St. George man arrested for alleged sexual abuse of 5-year-old

Stock image | St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A 40-year-old St. George man has been arrested for alleged aggravated sexual abuse of a 5-year-old girl.

The Division of Child and Family Services received a report that the 5-year-old St. George girl had disclosed details of suspected sexual abuse by a man identified as Warren Leonard Black, according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest.

Warren Leonard Black, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted June 27, 2017 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

The 5-year-old girl was subsequently interviewed Tuesday at the Children’s Justice Center in St. George where she described incidents of sexual abuse that had allegedly occurred on multiple occasions, the report stated.

“The child was able to provide consistent details of the abuse,” the arresting officer wrote in a sworn statement.

Police spoke with Black, who “refused to make any statements without his attorney present,” the report stated.

Black was arrested Tuesday and transported to the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.

The Washington County Attorney’s Office filed an information in 5th District Court accusing Black of two first-degree felony counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child.

Black was released from police custody on bail pending trial. He appeared before 5th District Judge Jeffrey Wilcox Thursday for his initial court appearance.

In May 2015, Black was arrested on a class A misdemeanor count of sexual battery for unlawful sexual contact with a 16-year-old in St. George on at least two occasions in 2013, according to Utah court documents. He entered a no contest plea to the charge in June 2016.

Read more: 38-year-old man arrested for sexual misconduct with 16-year-old

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

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10 Comments

  • ladybugavenger June 30, 2017 at 1:28 pm

    Wondering why castration isn’t an option….?

    • ladybugavenger June 30, 2017 at 2:13 pm

      He’s out on bail…..shouldn’t he be supervised? I know it’s allegedly, but he does have a prior conviction. Watch your children

      • Utahguns June 30, 2017 at 2:50 pm

        Out on bail…..great.
        There’s his ticket to skip town.

  • NickDanger June 30, 2017 at 3:18 pm

    Uh, okay, a bond of $25,000? For a guy who has demonstrated a clear pattern of sexual abuse of children? Where do they get these bail amounts from?

    This guys needs to be off the streets. His bond should have been set at an amount that would ensure that. With the usual deal bail bondsmen make, he walked for $2500.00, and is now free to prey on more children, leave the country, intimidate witnesses, or whatever else suits his pedophilic agenda.

    I get that he’s innocent until proven guilty. And I get that there needs to be a bail option. But seriously, this amount of money is inconsequential relative to the charges against this “alleged” offender.

  • Badshitzoo June 30, 2017 at 7:32 pm

    We need to figure out why these Monster’s grow? Why they can’t be fixed? They don’t even “Age out” of their behavior the way most other serious criminals do? Prior f-ing conviction and out on bail after repeat offense with a 5 YEAR OLD???? Holyscraps! Is that info correct ??? Skip town, he’ll be in a foreign country in a week.

  • comments July 1, 2017 at 12:22 am

    He should’ve just told them he was a mormon prophet. It worked a long time for the prophet warren jeffs keeping him free, at least in utah it did.

    • Dusty July 1, 2017 at 1:36 pm

      This is a horrible thing to have happen! I hope the little 5 year old can get help and counseling. Nothing can give her back what has been taken.
      A note to “comments”: Where is your compassion? Warren Jeffs was not a Mormon prophet and what happened to this little girl should not be shoved into that scenario.

      • comments July 1, 2017 at 3:37 pm

        And just who are you to decide who is and who isn’t a mormon prophet?! I think that’s up to The Lord, not you, buddy. The point is a polygamist mormon prophet molested a lot more kids than this guy. The main difference is that the state turned a blind eye and allowed it to happen because it was a mormon prophet doing it.

        • comments July 1, 2017 at 3:39 pm

          Just realized, they both are named Warren. Scary.

  • Rob83 July 3, 2017 at 8:57 am

    I’m so curious to know how people who use children this way can live with themselves. can stand to look into a mirror and not want to walk off a cliff…if only, gross predators!

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