ST. GEORGE — A Santa Clara man has pleaded guilty to first-degree felony charges during a resolution hearing. The investigation into reports alleging molestation of a child found multiple children abused over the span of nearly two decades, police say.
On Oct. 3, the defendant, 64-year-old Craig Steven Nebeker, appeared in 5th District Court for a resolution hearing on three first-degree felony charges — two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and one count of sodomy on a child.
Nebeker pleaded guilty to the three charges, while a fourth second-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child was dismissed in a plea bargain.
The case was filed on Dec. 1, 2022. Nebeker was arrested two days later and held in custody on $60,000 bail until Dec. 20 when he was released after posting bond. He has remained free on pretrial monitoring since his release from jail.
The investigation
The investigation was opened by the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department after police received a call in April 2022 alleging that Nebeker had inappropriately touched and exposed himself to a child on more than one occasion. The incidents took place between 2011 and 2013, when the child was 4-6 years old.
The child also reportedly witnessed the sexual assault of a relative, an assault the witness stated took place in the living room of Nebeker’s home.
While following up on this information, investigators found a report from September 2019 involving a complainant who reported she was molested by Nebeker more than 20 years before, abuse that occurred multiple times when she was between the ages of 10-11 years old.
What began as inappropriate touching soon escalated into sexual assaults that left the youngster, now an adult, “immobilized by fear,” investigators noted in the report.
Another child reported to police they were abused by Nebeker in December 2019. The report contained information indicating Nebeker had touched the youth in a sexual manner on at least two separate occasions.
Through a series of interviews and corroborating evidence, detectives were able to combine the three reports with charges to support the allegations of all three victims.
At the time of the original report, both reports in 2019 were investigated, but detectives were hampered by a lack of corroborating witnesses and insufficient evidence, the court records noted.
Since each of the parties reported the abuse independently of one another, it wasn’t until authorities received the call from the third victim that led investigators to additional evidence to tie all three reports together.
Further details involving the previous reports and other issues that hampered the investigation were reported by St. George News in December.
Plea entered during resolution hearing
District Judge Jay Winward presided over the resolution hearing held last week. Nebeker was represented by Douglas Terry and Trevor Terry, while the state was represented by Prosecutor Jerry Jaeger.
According to Jaeger, the state entered into a plea agreement with the defense that states, if approved by the court, that Nebeker would be sentenced to six years to life on each of the counts.
Arguments heard at the sentencing hearing would be whether or not the sentences on each of the counts would run concurrent or consecutive, or whether Nebeker would have to serve a minimum of six years or 18 years.
Jaeger also said there were mitigating factors in the case, which led the state to consider the agreement, were the details of which had been discussed with the families, all of whom were present in court.
Winward then went over the statement in support of the guilty plea that Nebeker had signed prior to the hearing. The judge then asked the defendant, “Is that what happened?”
To which Nebeker replied, “Yes.”
Nebeker’s attorney, Trevor Terry, told the court that the statement was accurate on a factual basis.
Satisfied that the defendant had entered the plea voluntarily, the judge then scheduled the sentencing hearing to take place on Nov. 14, and ordered a pre-sentence investigation to be completed prior to the hearing.
The judge then stated that custody needed to be addressed, since Nebeker had spent the last eight months out on bond. Jaeger said the state had not asked for an in-custody status and that it was up to the court’s discretion.
To that, Winward said, “Mr. Nebeker — you’re gonna go into custody. I can either have you transported today by the deputies or you can report to Purgatory on your own.”
Nebeker was ordered to report to the Purgatory Correctional Facility by Oct. 5 allowing him to attend to medical issues, with stern warning of an arrest warrant should he fail to comply.
On the evening of Oct. 5, as ordered, Nebeker reported for jail and is currently awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled for next month.
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