St. George man accused of raping 10-year-old

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 30, 2008 by Ben Winslow Deseret News

St. George police have arrested a man accused of raping a 10- year-old girl who befriended his daughter.

Police initially became aware of the case just before midnight on Saturday, when the girl's mother called to report her daughter missing. The girl was staying with her father at a local motel.

"She had made friends with another girl who lived in the same motel," said St. George Police Sgt. James Van Fleet.

Police said Jeremy James Irwin, 33, invited the girl to go with his 10-year-old daughter to get something to eat Saturday night. They wound up at a home near Middleton Drive, Van Fleet said.

"While there, he took her into a back room and held her there and raped her," he said. "He did that while the other girl was in a different room."

The girl was able to call her mother, who came and picked her up, police said. The girl confided to her mother that she had been sexually assaulted, Van Fleet said. Detectives arrested Irwin at the motel he'd been staying at. His own daughter was placed in state protective custody.

Irwin was booked into the Purgatory Jail and subsequently charged with child rape, sodomy on a child, and kidnapping, all first- degree felonies; and child sex abuse, a second-degree felony. During an appearance in St. George's 5th District Court on Monday, he was appointed an attorney to represent him and bail was set at $100,000 cash only.

Irwin will appear in court again next month.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com