St. George man indicted on child sex crimes at treatment facility

WASHINGTON CITY, Utah (ABC4) — A 37-year-old St. George man employed at a behavioral health facility was indicted on sex crimes with a minor on Friday, according to documents filed in the Fifth District Court.

Sean Michael Stanley was charged by a grand jury Friday after being arrested Thursday. He is charged with two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, one count of sexual abuse of a minor, and providing a minor with tobacco, e-cig, or nicotine product.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the investigation into Stanley began back in February when Washington City Police received a child abuse and neglect report expressing concerns about the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old female. The affidavit of probable cause and the indictment did not name the facility in question.

The probable cause statement says the teenager was a patient at the residential treatment facility. The victim allegedly reported the worker for incidents where she and Stanley engaged in sexual acts.

After the concerns were reported, the victim stated in an interview at the county children’s justice center that Stanley allegedly took her to a secluded part of the neighborhood near the facility where the two engaged in sexual acts in Stanley’s car. The probable cause statement says the victim also spoke about another encounter that happened with Stanley the following day.

This time with Stanley initiating the encounter, the teen was “taken aback” by the request of Stanley. In a follow-up with the facility, authorities were given various documents regarding the staff and victim. There were two documents that police say corroborated the victim’s statements.

Police say in the probable cause statement that they followed up with several staff members who reportedly worked with the victim and Stanley. The staff’s general opinion of Stanley was that he was “overly friendly with other staff and clients and would hang out in the female housing area despite being assigned elsewhere.”

When approached by authorities on the matter, the probable cause statement says Stanley denied wrongdoing. After a review from police, they arrested Stanley on the aforementioned charges and booked him into Washington County Jail.

ABC4 is efforting more information on the story.