Lifetime registered sex offender in jail after parole agents track him to Bluff Street parking lot

Stock image | St. George News

ST. GEORGE — An Ivins man is in jail after police said a traffic stop later led to the discovery of a parole violation from a previous conviction for sexually abusing a child.

2021 stock image of Santa Clara-Ivins patrol vehicle, Santa Clara, Utah, March 2, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

On Thursday, 42-year-old Scott David Mock was arrested and booked into jail on second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and he was formally charged with the offense the following day, according to charging documents filed with the courts.

The arrest was set in motion when a Santa Clara-Ivins Police Officer conducted a traffic stop shortly after 6 a.m. on Thursday. While speaking to the driver, identified as Mock, the officer noted signs of possible impairment.

Officers processing the scene also found paraphernalia associated with inhaling narcotics. When no residue was detected on the item, Mock was released from the traffic stop. Adult Probation and Parole was contacted and advised of the traffic stop and the suspicious circumstances surrounding it.

Four hours later, agents with Adult Probation and Parole found the suspect at 10:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Smith’s Food and Drug on Bluff Street using data provided by a GPS tracking device Mock was required to wear after a number of previous parole violations.

The parole violations stem from two cases filed in Nevada that resulted in requiring Mock to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Agents responded to the parking lot where they they observed the suspect getting out of a vehicle. As Mock was making his way to his own car, the officers approached. They noticed that Mock was holding a smartphone in his hand — which the suspect was prohibited from having under the terms of his parole. As such, the phone was seized by the agents.

During a search of the suspect, agents found a prescription bottle containing an opioid medication for which he had a prescription that was filled at a pharmacy earlier that same day. The prescription was for 90 pills, the report states, but when agents counted there were 57 tablets left.

When questioned about the shortage, the suspect said he had given the pills to his friend that he met in the parking lot when agents first arrived.

According to the report, when agents reviewed the contents of the cell phone, they found a number of texts indicating the suspect had recently sold a number of opioid pills — the same type as pills prescribed to the suspect. Officers said when asked, Mock denied selling the tablets and told agents that he and his friend traded pills when one of them was running low “to help each other out,” the agent noted.

Scott David Mock, 42, photo taken from the Nevada Sex Offender Registry, date/location not specified | File photo courtesy of the Nevada Department of Corrections, St. George News

The suspect’s statement that he was giving the pills to a friend was called into question when the cell phone was scrutinized further and agents reportedly found a series of messages between the suspect and another individual arranging for the sale of the pills, noting the exchange was to take place in the same grocery store parking lot where they found the suspect several minutes earlier. Agents also found a payment matching the amount quoted for the sale of narcotics on a mobile payment app.

The suspect was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked into jail. The following day, he was formally charged with second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He is being held on $10,000 bail.

This was not Mock’s first run-in with Santa Clara-Ivins Police officers where a traffic stop ultimately led to his arrest.

On October 15, 2019, an officer in Santa Clara stopped a vehicle going 40 mph in a 25 mph zone shortly after 10 p.m. While speaking with the driver, identified as Mock, the officer observed four juvenile girls in the vehicle — three 14-year-olds and one who was 12 — according to the probable cause statement filed in support of Mock’s arrest.

A records check revealed the defendant was a lifetime sexual offender out of Nevada, the report says. Police then contacted the probation officer assigned to his case and learned Mock was not allowed to be within 1,000 feet of anywhere juveniles under the age of 18 gather, nor was he allowed to have anyone under the age of 18 in his vehicle.

Mock was arrested and transported to jail on one misdemeanor sex offender in presence of a child charge.

The defendant was released that same day and the following month was sentenced to serve 20 days in jail and ordered to pay a $500 fine. He was also placed on 12 months’ probation. His bond was revoked the following month when he failed to pay the fine.

Mock was extradited back to Nevada two months later where he pleaded guilty to one count of attempted violation of lifetime supervision by a convicted sex offender during a hearing held in 8th District Court in Las Vegas on Jan. 22, 2020. He was later placed on an indeterminate period of probation that was not to exceed five years and was also ordered to pay the $2,171 in extradition fees, as well as other court costs. In exchange for a guilty plea, the prison sentence of 19-48 months with the Nevada Department of Corrections was suspended in the case.

The lifetime sex offender registry requirement stems from two Nevada cases filed in 8th District Court in Clark County.

The first was filed in April 2003, and the second was filed three months later and involved five felony charges between the two, including two counts each of sexual assault of a child under the age of 14 and lewdness with a child under the age of 14. He was also charged with one count of attempting to commit a crime, which in Nevada means the defendant took action to commit a crime but fell short of completing it, which is a separate felony charge.

Mock pleaded guilty to all five charges and was sentenced in August of that same year. Two prison terms, including one 24-96 month term and a second term of life with the possibility of parole, were suspended in the case and the defendant was ordered to serve 126 days in jail. He was placed on a lifetime of supervision, ordered to complete a psychosexual evaluation and pay $2,440 in restitution.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life, as well as other standard provisions. Less than four years later, Mock was favorably discharged from probation, according to an order of release signed on Sept. 21, 2007.

Following his recent arrest, the defendant made an initial appearance on Wednesday and he remains in custody on $10,000 bail.

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.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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