Ex-Murray officer faces sex charges

State prosecutors filed several sex abuse charges against a former Murray police detective in 3rd District Court on Tuesday.

West Valley police arrested and booked Michael Spilman, 35, into the Davis County Jail on Jan. 9. Spilman resigned from the department Monday.

The Salt Lake County Attorney's Office filed an affidavit that included a first-degree felony charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, because the offence was allegedly "committed by a person who occupied a position of special trust," according to the affidavit. If convicted, the mandatory sentence is five years to life in prison.

He also faces charges of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor.

Spilman is alleged to have sexually abused a teenage girl "on several different occasions" over nearly five years, according to the affidavit.

Although he lived in West Valley City where the alleged abuse occurred, Spilman was booked into the Davis County Jail according to police protocol aimed to protect officers from reprisal by inmates they investigated or arrested. He remained in jail Tuesday on $150,000 bail.

— Jacob Hancock