ST. GEORGE — A man who reported his 17-year-old son missing 10 days ago is charged with 15 first-degree felonies involving sex abuse of a child.
Timothy Wayne Dennis, 42, St. George, appeared in 5th District Court via a video link from Purgatory Correctional Facility where he has been jailed on $405,000 bail since his arrest Tuesday. Judge James L. Shumate read the charges against Dennis and said he would review the defendant's efforts to hire an attorney during a later review hearing. Shumate reset bail for Dennis at $100,000 cash only at Wednesday's hearing.
None of the charges involve Dennis' missing son, prosecutors say.
Dennis is charged with 10 counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child and five counts of sodomy of a child, all first-degree felonies. He also is charged with three second-degree felony counts of forcible sex abuse.
Washington County deputy attorney Ryan Shaum said the charges against Dennis are aggravated because of the female victim's age during the alleged events and her relation to the defendant.
Dennis is the father of Jason Dennis, a 17-year-old who was last seen the morning of March 18. The missing teen has brown hair, wears glasses, is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs around 120-130 pounds, police said.
St. George police spokesman Craig Harding said the teenager normally wears a blue denim jacket although it is unknown what he was wearing at the time of his disappearance.
Also missing from the boy's home is a green Huffy bicycle, a backpack and a .22-caliber pistol. A note, which Jason Dennis reportedly gave friends, said he left home on his own and not because of any problems involving his father, said Harding.
