Ex-detective pleads guilty to sex-abuse

A former Murray police detective pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible sex abuse Monday in a case where he admitted sexually abusing a teenage girl over the course of five years.

Michael D. Spilman, 35, changed his plea to guilty on the two counts of forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony. Court records show that one of the two counts was originally a first-degree felony, but it was reduced and one count of sexual battery was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

West Valley police arrested Spilman on Jan. 9. He resigned from the police force days after his arrest. Spilman had worked for the Murray Police Department since 1999.

Prosecutors said that he abused a teenage girl "on several different occasions," throughout the five-year period.

Judge Sheila McCleve will sentence Spilman on June 1.

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 inmates they investigated or arrested.

— Ethan Thomas