PROVO, Utah, June 8, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Illinois man has been booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of abusing a 7-year-old Provo girl.
Kelly Wayne Peterson, 35 and a resident of Decatur, was booked on suspicion of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony. Peterson held a position of trust with the child.
Provo Police officers were alerted on Wednesday, within a few hours of the alleged incident, the probable cause statement says.
“The victim was interviewed at the Children’s Justice Center in Provo,” the statement says. “During that interview, the victim disclosed that Kelly Peterson came into the bedroom that the victim was in. The victim stated that Kelly Peterson touched the victim’s breasts under her clothing, and then her vagina and buttocks over the clothing.”
The victim said Peterson exposed his genitals, and touched them to her.
The child called her mother, who came home and told Peterson to leave the residence, the statement says.
Located two days later by police, Peterson was advised of his rights, which he waived, the statement says. Police told the suspect what the child had said, and Peterson said “that he must have been really drunk and said that (the victim) may have been climbing all over him while he was asleep.”
Peterson was booked into the Utah County Jail, and is being held on $50,000 bail.
