BATON ROUGE - An alleged child molester is behind bars after his victim secretly recorded him confessing to the crime and then gave that confession to deputies.

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office says it arrested Jeffery Roach, 49, after detectives received the recording, which included a phone call in which he admitted to molesting a 16-year-old who lived with him more than three years ago.

The victim, who lived with Roach for about a year and a half, says he groped her and made her do other explicit acts on multiple occasions. She added that she had to seek treatment for depression as a direct result of her encounters with Roach. 

Sometime after the investigation began in October 2019, the victim came to detectives with the recorded phone call featuring Roach's confession. In that call, Roach allegedly "begs for his life" and told the victim "he will go to jail for a long time" if she tells anyone about what happened. He is also heard acknowledging that he was the one who assaulted her, according to arrest records.
 
Additionally, investigators said the victim received text messages from Roach saying that "it would ruin me" and "it would kill me" if she reported him.

Roach told investigators that he hadn't been in contact with the victim in over a year and refused to admit to the crimes, despite the recorded phone call and messages. 

He was booked into jail Tuesday for molestation of a juvenile.