ST. GEORGE — A St. George man has been arrested and charged with 14 felonies after he allegedly sexually abused two juvenile girls over the course of six years and showed pornography to young girls in his neighborhood.
On Thursday, a detective with the Mesquite Police Department in Nevada contacted St. George police about a reported sex offense case being investigated that had occurred in St. George.
Two girls, ages 15 and 12, were interviewed at the Children’s Justice Center in St. George where they disclosed that 38-year-old James Michael Leavitt had sexually molested them, according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest.
The alleged abuse occurred over the course of six years, with the most recent incident occurring six months prior, the report states.
Prior to receiving the sexual abuse report, on Oct. 20, authorities were investigating a report of a possible pornography incident involving three girls ages 12, 11 and 9, the arresting officer wrote in a sworn statement.
One of the girls had told her mother that an adult neighbor – identified as Leavitt – had shown her and her friends pornography in his apartment at an earlier date, the report states.
St. George police contacted Leavitt at his place of work Thursday following the contact from the Mesquite Police Department and interviewed him at the police station.
After waiving his Miranda rights, Leavitt “gave a full confession of his crimes committed against the girls,” the officer wrote in the statement. “James (Leavitt) confessed to sodomizing the two girls.”
Leavitt further admitted to showing the three girls pornography, adding that his juvenile son was also present at the time, the report states.
Leavitt was arrested and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office filed an information in 5th District Court accusing Leavitt of 10 first-degree felony counts of sodomy on a child, along with four third-degree felony counts of dealing in material harmful to a minor.
As this report publishes, Leavitt remains in police custody. His bail pending trial stands at $107,500. He is scheduled to make his next court appearance Dec. 11.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.
If this scumbag lived in “the crick”, he would be let off.
Brings a momma to tears readinng what he did to those children….
Never let him out, and may justice be served, prison style. He should be found dead.
ABSOLUTELY!
Fing shoot this slug on sight.