Salt Lake man accused of sex abuse hung out at playground offering candy, charges say

Salt Lake man accused of sex abuse hung out at playground offering candy, charges say

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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man who police say would hang out near a playground and offer candy to children faces a charge of sexually abusing a young girl.

And police say in court documents that there may be more victims.

Dale Scott Frary, 59, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony.

A girl under the age of 10 reported that Frary inappropriately touched her while at a playground near her apartment complex and then offered her a lollipop and told her "they were married, it was a secret," according to charging documents.

When questioned by police and asked about his interactions with children on the playground, Frary stated, "What I do is I go out and most of the time I have a pocket full of suckers. They're racing over wanting suckers, ya know. I give 'em suckers and watch 'em play," the charges state. The girls called him the "sucker guy, papa or grandpa," according to the charges.

Frary also allegedly told police that children have come to his house for candy.

Police say some of the children had also asked Frary for help getting up on the playground equipment. While being questioned, Frary told police he has an attraction to young girls, according to the charging documents.

"I need to learn to stay away from … and not touch. I don't know," he told police, according to the charges.

Frary wrote an apology letter to the young girl, during which he said he was sorry for his actions toward "all three girls," the charges state. Detectives on Friday continued to search for those girls.

Detectives searched Frary's home and found candy, photos of children and toys, the charges say.

Prosecutors have requested Frary be held in jail without bail.

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Pat Reavy, KSLPat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.

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