ST. GEORGE — Charges continue to mount for a former Mesquite middle school counselor who was arrested in Nevada and then extradited to Washington County to face charges filed in Utah – including a fourth case alleging abuse while the defendant served as a Boy Scout leader.
On Wednesday, June 26, the defendant, David Scott Curtis, 54, was charged with an additional six first-degree felonies that include two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and four counts of forcible sodomy.
This is the fourth case filed against Curtis and stems from an investigation that opened May 9 when another victim, who is now an adult living out of state, came forward following the defendant’s arrest in Mesquite, Nevada, at the end of March.
In this case, the reporting party told officers that Curtis, who was his Boy Scout leader at the time, started molesting him while he was living in Washington County starting in about 2001.
It all started by touching, the reporting party said, since the defendant was a father-figure and was affectionate and hugged everyone to make them feel more comfortable, and in a manner that made the kids want to “hang out with him,” the officer noted in charging documents filed with the court.
Several months on, however, the victim told officers that Curtis would force him to inappropriately touch him, abuse that occurred at least 100 times over a five year period ending in 2006. The molestation also allegedly occurred during when the scouting group would stay overnight at the defendant’s house.
The most recent case brings the total number of first-degree felonies to 21, charges that were enhanced to first-degree felonies due to Curtis holding a special position of trust during the alleged molestation of children. Investigators asked that Curtis continue to be held without bail.
In a third case filed in May, a forensic interview revealed that Curtis allegedly sexually abused a child starting when the youngster was under the age of 10. The abuse happened “hundreds” of times for a number of years while Curtis, who had become close to the family, was helping to care for the child while the parents worked, according to the affidavit filed in support of the charges.
The child, investigators noted, disclosed the abuse “to other people” more than once but said no one believed them, so they stopped telling anyone as the molestations continued across three different states over the span of several years.
At the time of the Nevada arrest, Curtis, who was living in Littlefield, Arizona, was working as a school counselor at Charles A. Hughes Middle School in Mesquite.
Mesquite Police Department Sgt. Wyatt Oliver told St. George News in March they were unaware of any allegations against Curtis until the day the warrant was issued. Once they confirmed the information with St. George detectives, Oliver said officers went directly to the middle school to arrest him.
Curtis was held in Clark County until he was extradited to Utah at the end of March to face one first-degree felony count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child filed in the first of three cases for crimes he allegedly committed more than 10 years ago in Washington County.
The second case was filed April 2, after investigators learned of a second child who was sexually assaulted by the defendant starting when the youngster was under the age of 10 and took place multiple times for several years until shortly before Curtis’s arrest on the first case, the report states.
An initial appearance on the recent case is scheduled to take place Friday in the 5th District Court in St. George. The defendant has retained Christopher Salcido as his defense attorney on all four cases and the defendant remains in custody in Washington County on a no-bail hold at this time.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Updated Thursday, June 27, 3:25 p.m.: Adds information about June 26 additional charges.
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