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Ex-law enforcement officer Glen Parsons charged with sex abuse of minors
Former Mountain Home police officer Glenn A. Parsons, 25, was arrested by investigators from the state Attorney General's office Thursday and charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor under 16 years of age and one count of sexual battery of a minor child 16 or 17 years of age.
Parsons was arraigned Thursday afternoon on the charges and was being held in the Elmore County jail on a $100,000 bond. As of Friday morning he remained in jail.
The charges are all felonies and involve separate incidents alleged to have occurred with two different minors.
The charges followed a series of investigations first launched by the Mountain Home Police Department last November. Following an extensive and "thorough investigation" of allegations made involving the two minor girls in two separate cases, the department forwarded the information it had developed to the city prosecuting attorney's office for review and consideration of charges, but believing a conflict of interest may exist, the matter was then forwarded by the prosecutor to the Idaho Attorney General's office, which then conducted its own investigation.
Parsons had worked for the Mountain Home Police Department from March to November of 2007. Previously he had worked for four years as a member of the sheriff's department's security detail at the Elmore County Courthouse, before moving on to the city police department.
Parsons was scheduled to be arraigned in Elmore County early Thursday afternoon but that was delayed until a non-local judge could be found to conduct the arraignment (once again, to prevent any conflicts of interest with Elmore County judges). The arraignment was conducted by telephone with Boise Magistrate Judge James Cawthon. Since he will not be the judge who will conduct the preliminary hearing a date for that hearing was not immediately set, but must be held prior to April 3.
Arraignments are held to set bail and set dates for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is probable cause to go to trial.
According to the affidavit filed in conjunction with his arrest, Mountain Home Police initially were notified on Nov. 13, by the older alleged victim, that on either Nov. 6 or Nov. 7 she had called Parsons and told him she was depressed. That victim then alleges that he went to her home, picked her up, and took her to his apartment.
There, the victim told authorities, he prepared an alcoholic beverage for her (and offered a second, which she said she refused). The two then sat down on his couch and, according to the victim's statement, he began to kiss her and touch her inappropriately. She then said she wanted to be taken home and he said he would do so in an hour, but Parson's girlfriend then showed up and after the girlfriend left he took her home.
Parsons denied the allegations at the time, telling investigators that all he and the teenage girl had done was watch a movie.
The charges facing Parsons also involve a second series of incidents involving a younger girl, 14 years of age.
In that case the victim alleges that while having dinner with her family (the exact date was not revealed) Parsons began texting her on her cell phone, making inappropriate suggestions, including asking her for pictures of her partially undressed. In subsequent days, he allegedly sent a number of other text messages, including requests to engage in sexual activity with him. The girl then forwarded the text messages to her mother, who notified police, which then began a second investigation of Parsons.
After the information from the two investigations was gathered and sent to the state attorney general's office, and that agency had conducted its own interviews and investigation, the attorney general's office determined that there was probable cause to charge Parsons.
He was arrested by state investigators Thursday.