Lehi man charged with sexually abusing young girls at his home daycare

LEHI — A Lehi man has been charged with sexually abusing children as young as 1 year old whom he was baby-sitting at his home.

Alfredo Enrique Vargas, 43, is charged with 16 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and 10 counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.

Lehi police believe Vargas has been molesting young girls at the Little Bears Daycare, which operates out of his home at 751 W. 700 South, since June.

In July, a 2- to 3-year-old girl disclosed that Vargas had touched her private parts on a couple of occasions. Then in December, a 5-year-old girl said Vargas had touched her privates "'every day' or 'every time' she went to daycare," according to the charges filed Friday in 4th District Court.

A 7-year-old sister of that girl also reported that Vargas had abused her "at least twice," the charges state. The sisters had been attending the daycare five days a week for about six weeks.

Children at the daycare also said they saw Vargas touch the privates of a 1-year-old girl on at least two occasions, the charges state.

Lehi police say the 10 misdemeanor charges were filed because Vargas allegedly urinated in their presence by leaving the bathroom door open at the daycare.

Police say while Vargas' wife primarily operates the business, he ran it by himself for about a month recently when she temporarily left the country. A woman who answered the phone at the daycare Monday declined to comment.

Vargas' lawyer, Sean Druyon, says he has letters of reference from parents who say they had never seen anything inappropriate.

— Brian West Twitter: misterwestt