Editorial:

Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckus can breathe a bit easier now that convicted serial child molester George Joseph England will stay behind bars — at least for the time being. And, on behalf of parents in Newport-Mesa, we share that sense of relief.

We’re with the D.A. on this one. England, 65, never should have been allowed to come within a day of being released from prison on Friday, after completing a three-year sentence stemming from his 1977 conviction for molesting three girls at his motor home in Costa Mesa.

England’s story is a twisted and sordid tale that underscores the imperfections and ironies of the American criminal justice system and its reforms.

Back in 1977, he was living here with Jackie Zudis, a girl whom he allegedly bought when she was 5 years old in 1972, while he was working in South Vietnam as an American government contractor. England to date never has been convicted of molesting Zudis, who in the late 1970s did not reveal her own alleged victimization at his hands. But last week she appeared in a videotaped FBI interview, which was screened during a news conference on Thursday convened by Rackauckus. In the video, Zudis alleged a litany of beastly acts, including rape, done to her by England over the course of 11 years.

In October ’77, England was convicted on three counts of molestation of 9- and 10-year-old girls, who were Zudis’ friends. Before being sentenced, he fled Orange County, taking Zudis with him. He went on the lam for 29 years. While on the run he took on the identity of a real person, Stephen Arthur Seagoe. Seagoe would have been about England’s age, except that he died in Santa Barbara at 11 months old.

England was arrested in Florida in May 2005. But when he was finally sentenced in September 2006, he got a term of three years to life in prison. He was sentenced under 1977 law, which stipulated a maximum sentence of six years in state prison. Had England been convicted of committing those crimes today, he could have been sent away for a term of 45 years to life, the D.A. has maintained.

Rackauckus’ office had been trying to block the release of England, whose prison term was set to expire on Friday, by petitioning the state Department of Mental Health to have him classified as a sexually violent predator. If successful, the move would have enabled the authorities to confine England to a mental institution, but it failed. We commend Rackauckus nonetheless for doing all he could to keep England off the streets.

“It breaks my heart for all of England’s victims and the possible new victims out there, knowing that the system has failed them …,” Orange County’s chief prosecutor said in a prepared statement. “England spent a lifetime using young girls for his own perverse sexual gratification and never showing any remorse for the emotional and psychological baggage he left his victims to carry. I am sickened that my office has been denied legal recourse to keep this child molester locked away from children.”

The news conference in Santa Ana was unusual in that the district attorney appeared before the cameras and microphones to warn the people of Orange County about England’s imminent release. In the middle of it, an aide interrupted Rackauckus and whispered into his ear.

A surprised-looking D.A. then turned to face the reporters again and convey the news that the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office were moving to file a warrant to arrest England and have him extradited to Florida on new charges. We hope that the new charges will stick and that should he be convicted, that this time around he’ll be locked up for the rest of his days.