Suspected Child Molester Arrested

Police have arrested an Irvine man on suspicion of molesting several young boys, some of whom he may have met through his affiliation with the Boy Scouts and Big Brothers of America, authorities said.

The suspect, Kenneth Eugene Teague, 40, was taken into custody after police found incriminating videotapes and photographs in several locations, Irvine Police Lt. Tom Hume said.

“There is a tremendous amount of evidence to sort through,” Hume said. “A lot of it is very, very graphic and very serious,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for child molesters to save some type of archive, store up their photographs.”

Representatives of local Boy Scouts and Big Brothers chapters said Thursday afternoon that they could not comment on the arrest.

Police first investigated the suspect in 1996, based on information they received from a boy in the Big Brothers of Tustin program where Teague worked, Hume said.

“At that time, we didn’t have enough physical evidence,” Hume said. “Then we had an informant come forward, and we were able to get enough for three search warrants.”

At 7 a.m. Wednesday, police searched the Irvine home where Teague has lived for nine years and arrested him after finding photos and tapes. They also searched the home of an acquaintance of Teague’s in Laguna Niguel and a storage facility in Irvine, where many more videotapes were found, officials said.

None of the young boys on the tapes or in the photographs have been positively identified, Hume said. “We believe that some may be adults now. Some may still be underage. We just can’t tell yet.”

Identifying the children will be time-consuming, he said. “It’s going to take a long time to get through all those tapes. Then it comes down to contacting those agencies like Boy Scouts and seeing if they have lists of youths who may have been involved with Teague.”

Investigators might be able to reopen the 1996 case as a result of the evidence gathered, Hume said.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the suspect to call Investigator Tracy Jacobson at (949) 724-7172 or Sgt. Al Murray at (949) 724-7166.