Pleasant Grove man arrested for allegedly abusing 11-year-old girl

Eon McNeill. Photo Courtesy: Utah County Jail

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah, July 26, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Pleasant Grove man has been arrested for allegedly abusing an 11-year-old girl at a sleepover.

A probable cause statement from Utah County said Eon Clayton McNeill, 32, is facing a charge of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony.

The statement said that at approximately 5 a.m. on July 14, the girl’s grandmother found her granddaughter knocking on the door of her home in Pleasant Grove. The girl told her grandmother she had been sleeping over to a friend’s house the night before.

The victim was subsequently interviewed at the Children’s Justice Center in Provo.

“The victim recounted sleeping on the couch in the living room with her friend and her friend’s brothers,” the statement said. “Early in the morning the victim was awakened by someone picking her up from off the couch. In her groggy state of just being awakened from sleep she believed this person was her friend’s older brother.”

After this person placed her on the couch that was not occupied in the living room she realized this person was in fact McNeill, the statement said.

The victim did not know his name but described him.

The victim recounted that after being moved to the other couch McNeill told her he wasn’t going to hurt her and to trust him. McNeill kept telling the victim to trust him and he wasn’t going to hurt her, the statement said.

McNeill allegedly touched her inappropriately and attempted to pull her shorts down “but she pulled them back up and kicked him away with her foot,” the statement said. He then tried to pull her shorts down again, and she did the same thing.

The victim got up and walked across the room to other couch where her friend was sleeping and got back under the blanket. The victim said McNeill came to where she was lying down and knelt down by her. The victim said McNeill put his hand under the blanket she had covered herself with and touched her inappropriately; she told him to stop.

The victim stated she became more and more loud and when her friend began to stir awake, McNeill stood up from a kneeling position by her. She said McNeill touched himself inappropriately, then pulled his shorts up and left the room.

The victim said she woke up her friend and told him what had happened.

“She was very scared and just wanted to leave,” the statement said. “While the two were talking, Eon McNeill was looking around the corner of the wall at them and both kids witnessed Eon McNeill doing this.”

She told her friend she wanted to leave and left the house on foot. When she was outside she became afraid McNeill would come after her so she ran to her grandmother’s house several blocks away.

McNeill was interviewed by officials and denied ever going to the living room during the time of the morning this occurred.

The suspect was booked into Utah County Jail with his bail set at $10,000.

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