In late February 2003, Jeff Welch was tried and convicted of two counts of child molestation in Maricopa County, Arizona (Case No. CR2001-097224). In March 2003, Jeff Welch was also tried and convicted on child-pornography charges (Case No. CR2002-097527. He was sentenced to serve a total of 242 years in prison.
St. Paul Pioneer Press (February 26, 1994)

Lawyer Warns That Brother Might Molest Kids Again
 Publicity Precedes Man's Prison Release

Word Count: 562
By: JULIO OJEDA-ZAPATA and WAYNE WANGSTAD, Staff Writers
Edition: Metro Final Section: Metro Page: 1E

Mark Welch is not exactly thrilled that his brother, Jeff, is getting out of a Nashville prison.

In fact, the California attorney has sent out a frantic press release warning Twin Cities residents that his brother, a convicted child molester, may visit relatives in the metro area.

Welch also has sent releases to authorities and the media in Nashville, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Westborough, Mass., and Pleasanton, Calif. - all places the inmate may visit after his release on March 21.

``He will abuse children again,'' Welch said from Pleasanton on Friday. ``I want to eliminate a few opportunities for abuse he otherwise might have had.''

Jeff Welch could not be reached for comment Friday.

A criminal court clerk in Rutherford County, Tenn., said the man was imprisoned in Nashville after pleading guilty in 1987 to aggravated sexual battery on a 6-year-old girl. A judge gave him a 10-year sentence with the condition that he serve at least 30 percent of the sentence.

Jeff Welch, 34, was suspected of abusing three other minors.

A clerk in Montgomery County, Tenn., said Welch was indicted on a charge of aggravated sexual battery in 1983 but allowed to plead guilty on a reduced charge of attempting to commit a felony. He received a suspended sentence and was ordered to undergo counseling. The two other counts were dismissed.

In a letter to the Valley Times in Pleasanton, Calif., Jeff Welch writes:

``As a teen-ager ... I experimented with my brother, and three other young children in the neighborhood ... Mark was the only one I ever `forced' to do anything.''

Mark Welch, 33, said he was 13 when the abuse began on a Thursday in November 1973.

``The Waltons were on TV,'' said the attorney, who lived in Massachusetts at the time. ``I was washing dishes. Jeff pushed me out of the way, filled a glass with soapy dish water and threw it at my crotch. I just stood there incredulous for a minute, then went off to my room to change clothes.''

Jeff Welch used the opportunity to throw him on the bed and assault him, Mark Welch said. There were about 100 attacks between 1973 and 1974, and the abuse ended only when the boys' parents separated, he said.

``I waited to see where Jeff would go so I could head in the other direction,'' said Mark Welch, who ended up with his father.

He said he mostly kept silent about the abuse until his father's death in 1990. He then read Jeff Welch's court file and eventually decided to take action.

``I read what he'd done, and how this little 6-year-old girl had told her mother right away,'' he said. ``And then I felt such a sense of despair and sadness.

``I believe that my brother will seek out situations so he can molest children,'' he said. ``I am causing a lot of discomfort in my family by publicizing this. But that's better than the discomfort I would feel if (Jeff Welch) molested somebody again.''

In his letter to the Valley Times, Jeff Welch insists that ``I honestly believe that I will never do anything like that ever again. I can't avoid coming in contact with some children, although I'll make sure I'll never be alone with any again ... All I want is a fair chance to start over.''...

Boston Globe - TUESDAY, March 15, 1994

Westborough Alerted to Molester's Release

By: David Armstrong, Contributing Reporter
Edition: THIRD Section: METRO Page: 24
Word Count: 614

A California lawyer is blanketing the country with press releases warning people that his older brother, a convicted child molester, is about to be released from prison and may visit several states, including Massachusetts.

Mark Welch undertook the extraordinary mass mailing campaign after becoming concerned that his brother, Jeff Welch, 34, would travel anonymously after his release from prison later this month and molest more children.

"One of my key goals is to reduce the opportunities he has to molest children," Mark Welch said yesterday. "The best possible thing I can hope for is he gets caught the first time. That there will only be one more kid who is hurt."

Among the communities Mark Welch identified as possible sites for visits by his brother is Westborough. Jeff Welch graduated from Westborough High School in 1977 and worked at a convenience store there after graduation, his brother said.

Mark Welch said Westborough is a place his brother "is likely to visit" after his release at the end of this month from the Middle Tennessee Reception Center. He said his brother plans to travel across the country and still has friends in Westborough.

Jeff Welch was twice convicted of sexual molestation in Tennessee, court records show.

In 1987, he pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old girl he was babysitting, and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison.

In 1983, he was charged with molesting three girls, all under age 13. He pleaded guilty to one count and was given a five-year suspended prison sentence, records indicate.

Westborough Police Chief Glenn Parker yesterday said he received the mailing from Mark Welch, but is powerless to do anything about it.

"I don't know what we can do," he said. "We are aware of (Jeff Welch) and if he comes to town, we will be leery of him."

Mark Welch alleges that while his older brother was living in Westborough and Shrewsbury from 1972 to 1977, he molested him and other youngsters. The younger brother said he remembers talking to a police officer about the incident after telling his parents what happened, but does not know if his brother, a juvenile at the time, was ever charged.

Jeff Welch yesterday turned down a request for an interview.

A prison counselor, Connie Christmon, said Welch didn't want to talk about his brother's publicity campaign.

In a letter written to the Valley Times of Pleasanton, Calif., last month, Jeff Welch admitted sexually "experimenting" with his brother and three other neighborhood youngsters.

The newspaper reported that Jeff Welch wrote that his brother "was the only one I ever 'forced' to do anything, but we never got along before or after that."

Christmon said Jeff Welch has told prison officials he plans to relocate to Arizona after his release.

His brother, however, is concerned that Jeff Welch will roam the country, living off the proceeds of a 1990 inheritance and searching for new victims.

"I am going to do my best to see that he can't just disappear into some unsuspecting city so he can victimize more children," Mark Welch said.

Jeff Welch inherited $60,000 in 1990 after the death of his father. Mark Welch said his brother has successfully invested the money and expects to have $100,000 upon his release from prison.

A Tennessee parole official yesterday said Jeff Welch has been repeatedly turned down for early release from prison. With credit for good behavior, Welch will complete his sentence March 31, the officer said.

Since 1988, Welch has been denied parole because of "the seriousness of his offense," the parole officer said. Tennessee parole officials have granted few early releases to sex offenders.
Return to Essay Re: Publicizing Child Molester's Prison Release

Published News Reports Re: Jeff Welch

(not a complete list)
02/21/94 Valley Times, Pleasanton, CA (page one)
02/25/94 Milwaukee Journal
02/25/94 Bay City News Service, San Francisco (wire story)
02/26/94 St. Paul Pioneer-Press (page 1E)
02/26/94 KRON-TV Channel 4, San Francisco (5:00 p.m.)
02/26/94 KPIX-TV Channel 5, San Francisco (5:30 and 10:00 p.m.)
02/26/94 KGO-TV Channel 7, San Francisco (6:00 and 11:00 p.m.)
02/??/94 KGO Radio, San Francisco
02/??/94 KNBR Radio, San Francisco
03/02/94 Green Bay News Chronicle
03/03/94 Nashville Banner (page one) (follow-up story 03/04/94)
03/06/94 San Francisco Examiner (page A14)
03/06/94 Murfreesboro (TN) Daily News-Journal
03/07/94 KTVU-TV "Mornings on 2," Oakland (8:17 a.m.)
03/07/94 Community TV-30, "580/680 News," Pleasanton (5:00 p.m.)
03/15/94 Boston Globe
03/15/94 New England Cable News (TV)