(Placerville, CA) -- An Atwater man was sentenced to one-year in the El Dorado County jail after pleading no contest to felony child molestation charges. Forty-six-year-old Keith Hoover will also have to register as a lifetime sex offender after his release and will have to stay away from anyone under the age of 18. Hoover was accused of molesting a boy who was under the age of ten in El Dorado and Orange counties in 2003. The victim's family met Hoover through their church.
The Orange County Register - January 25, 2007
COSTA MESA– A Costa Mesa man accused of repeatedly molesting a former Orange County boy is behind bars after the boy came forward last month to report the years of abuse.
El Dorado County authorities have been looking for Keith Hoover, 45, since a 9-year-old boy now living in South Lake Tahoe, told a counselor last month he had been repeatedly abused by a family friend.
The boy confided in the counselor after the school held a program about sexual abuse last month after a teacher was arrested on suspicion of having child pornography.
Hoover was arrested Wednesday afternoon by Costa Mesa detectives as he drove his red Porsche into his apartment complex in the 600 block of 19th Street, Costa Mesa police Sgt. Mike Ginther said.
Hoover, who travels across the state for the medical imaging company he works for, was wearing a Lake Tahoet-shirt at the time.
Hoover began sexually abusing the former Laguna Nigel boy in 2001 after making friends with his parents, Det. Matt Underhill, of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department, said. The boy was about 4 years old.
“They trusted him,” Underhill said. “And he took advantage of that.”
Hoover visited the family after they moved to South Lake Tahoe in 2003 and the abuse continued, Underhill said. The last incident occurred in December 2005.
“Unfortunately boys don’t come forward as often as girls do, even though they are victimized just about as often as girls,” Underhill said. “Fortunately this little kid had the courage to come forward and tell us about it.”
Detectives also arrested Hoover on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia after they found a drug pipe in his Porsche, police said.
Hoover is being held at the Costa Mesa jail in lieu of $400,000 bail for the warrant and $500 bail for the drug arrest.
Hoover is not a registered sex offender and has no other sexual convictions.
