ST. GEORGE — A LaVerkin man is charged with sexually assaulting a teenager multiple times over nine years, abuse that began when the girl was 8 years old, police say.
Andrew Beagely Dockstader, 37, is charged with eight first-degree felonies: four counts of object rape; three counts of rape; and one count of forcible sodomy. He also faces six second-degree felony counts of forcible sex abuse, according to charging documents filed Friday in 5th District Court.
He was arraigned Wednesday and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 28.
Dockstader was originally booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility Dec. 18 on one count of rape after a joint investigation by the LaVerkin City Police Department, the Colorado City Marshal’s Office and the Hurricane City Police Department into allegations that a 17-year-old was sexually assaulted.
Two days later, Dockstader was charged with the 14 felony offenses after the case was turned over to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review, according to a statement released Wednesday by Tiffany Mower, public information officer for the LaVerkin Police.
Officers interviewed the victim at the Washington County Children’s Justice Center, where police say the girl told them she had been sexually assaulted by Dockstader numerous times in various locations in LaVerkin, Hurricane and Arizona.
According to the probable cause statement, the girl was forced to participate in various sexual acts and in some instances the suspect gave her alcohol and other relaxants prior to sexually assaulting her “in an effort to reduce the victims defenses during the sexual assaults.”
The abuse stopped only after it was disclosed to a family member and friend, Mower said in the statement.
The friend, John Goff, told St. George News Wednesday that he was made aware of the abuse in mid-December, when the teen came to him and “told me what was going on, and I went to the police at that point.”
Goff said Dockstader was the owner/lead instructor of the Lion Heart Tang Soo Do martial arts studio at 80 N. Central in Colorado City, Arizona, and also owned a second location in Hurricane at 545 W. State St.
The ownership of both studios was transferred Dec. 9 in an email, Goff said. The Colorado City location was turned over to Norma Blackmore Dockstader, the defendant’s wife, and the Hurricane studio was turned over to Goff.
No reason was given for the transfer, only that Dockstader wrote in the email, “I will be fading out until I can get the help I need.”
Both locations were closed as of Dec. 28.
Goff went on to say that the teenager had no connection with either karate studio, but there may be other victims coming forward. He said he spoke to a number of women after they suddenly stopped taking lessons.
“The women said they felt uncomfortable with the way Dockstader touched them during training, and said it was inappropriate.”
Mower confirmed the investigation is ongoing and confined to the victim listed in the report.
This report is based on statements from 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.
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Yeup, sounds like Dockstater is going to get Karate Chopped for his Kung Foo-lery.
Scum