SANTAQUIN, Utah, Oct. 11, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Santaquin man has been booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of felony abuse charges involving a 3-year-old girl.
Kendall Merrill Johnson, 30, is charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child and sodomy on a child, both first-degree felonies, after an incident alleged to have happened Sunday.
According to a probable cause statement, Johnson was at his residence with the female toddler and a slightly older boy, watching a children’s movie, when Johnson began whispering to the toddler, who was under a blanket that covered him and the girl.
The children later went home, and the boy reported the incident to a family member. The toddler was interviewed at the Children’s Justice Center. The toddler described the man’s genitals and her actions, saying “he said I have to do that,” the probable cause statement says.
The 3-year-old also confirmed that similar incidents had happened before, and that Johnson had touched her genitals in ways that caused pain.
Johnson has no prior convictions related to child sexual abuse, the statement says. His bail was set at $50,000.
Lock him up and throw away the key!