OREM, Utah, May 12, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A former dentist from Orem is facing a charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a child after allegedly trying to teach two young girls “about private body parts.”
According to charging documents, Clark Crookston, 70, was charged in the Fourth District Court in Utah County on April 30 for the first-degree felony charge, as well as two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony, and two counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.
Police said a woman called to report Crookston for behavior concerning her two daughters, who are now 11 and 8.
The 11-year-old told officials that when she was approximately 5, she saw Crookston’s private parts.
“She walked into a changing room while he was naked and he told her he didn’t mind and tried teaching her about it.”
The girl said the suspect had her touch his private parts with her finger, but that she didn’t want to. She she didn’t remember much else about the incident and stated that nothing similar had happened since.
The younger girl also said Crookston “tries to teach her about private body parts and her mother doesn’t like it.” She said Crookston would show her naked pictures of himself or expose himself to her. She also recalled an incident where he had her sit on his lap and he showed her pictures of other men’s private parts. The girl stated that she had never been asked to touch the suspect intimately.
The mother said she confronted Crookston several different times about these events. In 2014, she confronted him about him showing the girls his penis, and he stated “it was a teaching moment and he didn’t want the girls to feel ashamed about it,” the charging documents said. The mother told Crookston not to talk to her children about the subject again.
In 2016, Crookston talked to the woman’s husband and the girls’ father about how the girls needed to be more actively talked to about sex education, the document said. In 2016, the younger girl had told her parents that Crookston had shown her a picture of a penis.
The parents met with Crookston again, and he admitted he had showed the girl a picture, was told by the mother again not to talk to her children about sex, and he agreed.
About six to eight months later, the younger girl mentioned something that again made the parents believe Crookston hadn’t stopped talking to her about sex, the charging documents said. Crookston stated again he was concerned that they weren’t teaching the girls enough about intimate matters and again was instructed not to talk to the girls about that. In February of 2019, the younger girl again confirmed that Crookston had continued to teach her about sex, but “had told her these conversations were OK because they were only reviewing and not teaching new information,” the documents said.
On Feb. 28, the mother and father met with Crookston again. Crookston admitted to having shown his penis to the younger girl after she walked in on him and “showed curiosity.” He stated he let her “take a peek” two to three times recently.
A warrant was executed on Crookston’s computer, where several files were discovered that corroborate the younger girl’s claims. There were several videos of nude men, the charging documents said.
Crookston was booked into the Utah County Jail Thursday, but released on the same day.
A record check for Crookston shows his dental license expired in 2010.
