ST. GEORGE — Charges continue to mount for a former Mesquite middle school counselor who was arrested in Nevada and then extradited to Washington County to face charges filed in Utah.
On Tuesday, the defendant, David Scott Curtis, 54, was charged with an additional 12 first-degree felonies that include eight counts of forcible sexual abuse, three counts of forcible sodomy and one count of sodomy of a child. This is the third case filed against Curtis and stems from an investigation that opened April 22 when another child came forward following the defendant’s arrest in Mesquite, Nevada, at the end of March.
In this case, a forensic interview revealed that Curtis allegedly sexually abused the child starting when the youngster was under the age of 10. The abuse happened “hundreds” of times for a number of years while Curtis, who had become close to the family, was helping to care for the child while the parents worked, according to the affidavit filed in support of the charges.
The child, investigators noted, disclosed the abuse “to other people” more than once but said no one believed them, so they stopped telling anyone as the molestations continued across three different states over the span of several years.
At the time of the Nevada arrest, Curtis, who was living in Littlefield, Arizona, was working as a school counselor at Charles A. Hughes Middle School in Mesquite.
Mesquite Police Department Sgt. Wyatt Oliver told St. George News in March they were unaware of any allegations against Curtis until the day the warrant was issued. Once they confirmed the information with St. George detectives, Oliver said officers went directly to the middle school to arrest him.
Curtis was held in Clark County until he was extradited to Utah at the end of March to face one first-degree felony count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child filed in the first of three cases for crimes he allegedly committed more than 10 years ago in Washington County.
The second case was filed April 2, after investigators learned of a second child who was sexually assaulted by the defendant starting when the youngster was under the age of 10 and took place multiple times for several years until shortly before Curtis’s arrest on the first case, the report states.
In all, Curtis faces 15 first-degree felonies; these charges were enhanced to first-degree felonies due to Curtis holding a special position of trust during the alleged molestation of children. Investigators asked that Curtis continue to be held without bail.
An initial appearance on the recent case is scheduled to take place Friday in the 5th District Court in St. George. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 21 on all three cases. The defendant has retained Christopher Salcido as his defense attorney. Curtis remains in custody in Washington County on a no-bail hold at this time.
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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