Syracuse man charged with molesting children

FARMINGTON — Davis County prosecutors have filed charges against a Syracuse baby sitter accused of molesting young children.

Richard Siler, 44, was charged in 2nd District Court with three counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child, a first-degree felony; and two more counts of forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony. Syracuse police accuse Siler of molesting three different children under the age of 14 at his home in 2003 and 2004.

The children were being baby-sat at his home, police said.

"The defendant admitted to this touching," Syracuse police officer Corey Rowley wrote in a probable cause statement filed with the charges.

Police accused him in another case of molestation this year. Siler is a registered sex offender stemming from a 1999 conviction of attempted sex abuse of a child. He is no longer on probation or parole, but he remains on the registry.

Syracuse police said Siler and his wife did not run a licensed day care but baby-sat children of friends and acquaintances.

Siler, who has been released from the Davis County Jail on bail, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for a roll call hearing.

— Ben Winslow