Utah man arrested, accused of sexually abusing 4 boys over 20 years
- A Kearns man, Charles Shelton Bates, was arrested for alleged child sexual abuse of multiple boys.
- The former Boy Scouts leader is accused of sexual exploitation and abuse spanning 20 years.
- Investigators are urging other potential victims to come forward by contacting Unified police.
KEARNS — A Kearns man was arrested Thursday and accused of sexually abusing four boys over the past 20 years.
Police say they hope additional victims, if any, will come forward.
Charles Shelton Bates, 61, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of 42 felony crimes, including 10 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, 20 counts of sodomy on a child, four counts of forcible sodomy and forcible sexual abuse.
Unified police say the abuse happened at Bates's Kearns residence and at the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center swimming pool.
"There are numerous victims who have reported abuse from the defendant," a police booking affidavit states.
Investigators say they seized several CDs belonging to Bates that contained child sex abuse material. A total of 134 photos of child sex abuse material were found, including images of at least two boys who police identified as victims for his arrest. At least one picture was of an 11-year-old boy in 2006, according to the affidavit.
A second boy says he was abused while participating in the Boy Scouts of America between 2007 and 2013. Unified police confirmed that Bates "was a Boy Scouts leader and the abuse began when (the boy) was in Boy Scouts," the affidavit states.
A third boy says he also met Bates when he was 13 and a member of the Scouts.
"(He) would go to Charles' house under the guise of working on and earning merit badges for the Boy Scouts, the affidavit alleges. "These incidents (of abuse) occurred in Charles' bedroom and the community pool family bathroom."
A fourth boy told police he was abused five or six years ago, when he was between the ages of 13 and 14, according to the arrest report.
"These are extremely serious crimes that have persisted over decades," police said, while requesting that he be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without the possibility of posting bail.
Unified police say anyone who believes they were victimized by Bates, or who knows someone who was, is asked to call 801-840-4000.
Ephrata Man Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Child Sex Crimes
EPHRATA — A Grant County Superior Court judge sentenced 41-year-old Christopher Malloy to 108 months -- nine years -- in prison on Tuesday, April 15, following his guilty plea to multiple charges involving sexual exploitation of minors.
Malloy, an Ephrata resident, admitted guilt on February 19 to ten felony offenses under Washington state law, including rape of a child in the third degree, dealing in depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and commercial sexual abuse of a minor. The crimes occurred between early 2023 and April of that year and involved multiple victims, identified in court documents only by their initials.
The lengthy sentence reflects the seriousness of the offenses and the impact on the victims, as outlined by prosecutors and confirmed in the court’s judgment. As part of the plea agreement, Malloy must also register as a sex offender and will be subject to strict community custody conditions upon release.
Court records confirm Malloy’s guilty plea was made voluntarily and without coercion. The case was prosecuted in the Superior Court of Washington for Grant County and is considered a significant conviction in the region’s ongoing efforts to combat child sexual exploitation.
Anderson police arrest 19-year-old for
child sex abuse
ANDERSON, Calif. - Anderson police arrested a 19-year-old man for allegedly having inappropriate relationships with two underage girls. The arrest followed a notification from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Authorities were alerted that Jack Brissey, 19, might have been abusing an 11-year-old girl. Brissey, who was already on probation for elder abuse, denied the allegations when police contacted him earlier this month. He was fitted with a GPS monitor.
At the end of last week, police searched Brissey's phone and social media accounts. They said they found child sex assault material. As a result of the investigation, detectives identified two alleged female victims from Shasta County, ages 11 and 15 years old.
Authorities said Brissey continued the abuse even after being fitted with the GPS monitor. Brissey was arrested on several charges, including arranging a meeting with a minor, lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, and sending harmful matter to a minor.
Please, please, please, parents, do not put your children in a day care where men are present. Men have no business caring for someone else's children.
More Child Sexual Abuse Charges Filed Against Day Care Employee
Here We Grow in 2019 restricted Christopher Titus from being alone with children, but later allowed it
A former Webster Groves preschool teacher arrested and charged last month for sexually abusing a child has been charged with molesting a second child.
Titus now faces an additional charge for child molestation of a second victim under the age of 12, according to a grand jury indictment filed on April 2 in St. Louis County Circuit Court. He remains jailed on a $1 million bond.
The latest child molestation charge alleges that Titus subjected the child to sexual contact by touching the victim’s genitals through the clothing. The abuse is alleged to have happened between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2023, at the Webster Groves location of Here We Grow. The center, which serves children ages 2 through 6, also operates locations in Sunset Hills and Fairview Heights.
The earlier charges against Titus allege the abuse of the first victim took place between Jan. 1, 2023, and Aug. 31, 2024, also at the Webster Groves location. The 4-year-old told authorities that Titus touched her inappropriately on several occasions at the day care center. During an interview with police, Titus admitted to “engaging in various sex acts with the victim on several occasions,” according to court documents.
Here We Grow confirmed that Titus, who does not appear to have any prior criminal history or convictions in Missouri, was immediately terminated as soon law enforcement officers notified the center of the charges.
State Finds Center In Violation, Here We Grow Responds
The charges filed on March 5 against Titus triggered an investigation by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which is in charge of regulating day care centers throughout the state.
In a complaint investigation by DESE filed on April 3 and made public on April 15, the department referenced a 2019 child abuse allegation that was brought against Titus. While there was no evidence to substantiate the allegation and no violations or restrictions were filed against the center, DESE’s recent report details concerns employees had about Titus’ interactions with children.
It report also finds Here We Grow to be in violation of the state statute that says “child care personnel shall be of good character and intent and shall be qualified to provide care conducive to the welfare of children.”
In a written response to DESE’s report, Lindsay Jones, owner of Here We Grow, contests the violation and requests an appeal of the state’s finding. Jones has a family relation to Titus, according to DESE. However, Jones clarified that for the Times, saying that Titus is married to her husband's sister.
“The report was initiated after the arrest of Christopher Titus for alleged criminal wrongdoing. Christopher’s actions giving rise to these allegations were done in secret and outside of the view or knowledge of Here We Grow,” Jones wrote.
She added that prior to the charges filed against Titus in March, the center had not received any report from any staff member of any suspicious behavior or any concern involving Titus and the 4-year-old victim.
“The allegations involving Christopher came as a complete shock and surprise to us at Here We Grow,” Jones said.
She said Titus passed background checks when he was hired in January 2018, and every year thereafter. Those checks involved fingerprinting for criminal background checks.
“The prior allegation from 2019 referenced in the report was determined to be unsubstantiated after an independent investigation by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services,” Jones said. “The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education deemed Christopher eligible for employment in a child care facility as recently as Aug. 2, 2024.”
Jones said that Here We Grow, LLC, undergoes licensing inspections and review twice a year in April and October, and “there has never been any adverse action against our license,” which was first issued in December 2016.
Investigation Details Prior Allegations, Staff Concerns
The complaint investigation by DESE made public earlier this week said Titus was accused in 2019 of touching a child’s genitals. Even though the allegation was never substantiated, Here We Grow temporarily restricted Titus from working in classrooms without another staff member being present, according to DESE’s report.
“Because the complaint was unsubstantiated, DESE’s Office of Childhood had no reason to tell the child care provider that Christopher Titus could not be alone with children,” Mallory McGowin, chief communications officer for DESE, told the Times. “The child care provider made this directive/determination on their own at that time.”
But during an interview last month with DESE officials, Jones told investigators that roughly 30 days after she received the unsubstantiated report, Titus was put back into the classroom — alone — giving breaks to teachers during nap time.
He then began opening the building alone in February 2022, as he was “the most reliable staff she had,” Jones told DESE investigators. He was alone in the building from 6:30 to 7 a.m. every morning and there were usually five children in his care, she said.
Before being arrested in early March, Titus was in the 2-year-old classroom by himself on a daily basis, gave staff breaks in a class that included 4- and 5-year-old children, and assisted children in the bathrooms.
In an interview last month with state investigators, a staff member raised concerns about Titus taking a 2-year-old girl to the bathroom multiple times a day, even though she did not need assistance.
“The child was potty trained, but Chris insisted on taking the child to the bathroom every time,” the staff member told investigators. “There were times that the child did not want to go with Chris to the bathroom. Chris was adamant about taking all the girls to the bathroom, but did not pay much attention to the boys.”
The same staffer also began to notice a change in the child’s behavior, noting the child would cry at drop off in the mornings. The staff member told a coworker about her concerns, but did not tell anyone else.
Jones told DESE investigators last month that it wasn’t until Titus was arrested that the employee relayed the concerns she had about him being in the bathroom frequently with the 2-year-old girl.
Another staff member told state officials that she believed the only reason Titus still had a job at the center was because he was related to owners Lindsay and Brandon Jones.
More Victims?
Authorities believe there could be additional victims, as Titus worked at the day care center for seven years. He also worked as a manager at Imo’s Pizza in Webster Groves and Culver’s in Crestwood.
Parents who believe anything inappropriate may have happened to their child are encouraged to contact the St. Louis County Police Department at 314-615-5400.
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