WASHINGTON, Washington County — A staff member at a southern Utah residential treatment facility has been arrested and accused of engaging in sexual acts with a teenage resident.
Sean Michael Stanley, 37, of St. George, was arrested Thursday and charged Friday in 5th District Court with two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a third-degree felony; sexual abuse of a minor, a class A misdemeanor; and providing a nicotine product to a minor, a class C misdemeanor.
The investigation began in February when police in the city of Washington received a report that a 15-year-old girl had been abused at “the local behavioral/residential treatment facility,” a police booking affidavit states.
The girl told police the first incident happened after she left the facility in anger and Stanley picked her up in his vehicle. The two drove to a “secluded part of the neighborhood close to the facility” and engaged in a sex act, according to the affidavit.
The next day, the two were alone together in Stanley’s car again and a similar incident took place, the affidavit alleges. The teen later told investigators “she had not wanted to engage in such behavior and was taken aback” by his sexual request.
During the investigation, police reported finding documents from the facility that “appeared to help corroborate” the girl’s claims. One of the documents “admonishes” Stanley for going on a drive with an unnamed female client by himself, as staff members “are trained to never take female clients by themselves to avoid false accusations/creating unsafe environments.”
Police also spoke with several other staff members and “the general opinion among staff was that Sean was known to be overly friendly with other staff and clients and would hang out in the female housing area despite being assigned elsewhere,” the affidavit states.
When questioned by officers, Stanley admitted to giving the girl a ride twice but denied any wrongdoing, according to the arrest report.
