ST. GEORGE — A Washington City man accused of sexually assaulting a preschooler is in jail on rape and kidnapping charges following an interview at the police department where authorities say he admitted to additional felony crimes involving children.
On Thursday, 59-year-old Philip John Wyler Cook was arrested and charged with four first-degree felony charges that include one count each of rape of a child, sodomy of a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child and child kidnapping. He was also charged with endangerment of a child and lewdness involving a child, each a misdemeanor.
The charges were filed following an investigation that began when the Washington City Police Department received a report involving the sexual abuse of a child that started in 2012.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the arrest, the abuse took place over the course of multiple years while the defendant was in a position of trust. The abuse allegedly started when the child was 3 years old.
During an interview with the minor victim, officers were told that Cook forced the youngster to drink a chemical before proceeding to sexually assault the child. This form of sexual abuse took place multiple times, the affidavit alleges.
Investigators conducted two interviews with Cook at the Washington City Police Department, during which the defendant allegedly divulged that he raped an 11-year-old relative and admitted to sexually assaulting a 9-year-old when he was 20 years older than the child.
Following the interview, Cook was arrested and transported to jail where he remains without 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.
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