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ST. GEORGE — A New Mexico man accused of sexually abusing a child during a family gathering in Utah in 2020 was returned to Utah by two St. George police detectives and the suspect was booked into jail in Washington County.
Wesli James Pearce, 31, of Artesia, New Mexico, was extradited to Utah Friday on a first-degree felony warrant involving three counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child. The warrants were filed in October 2020.
St. George police officer Tiffany Mitchell told St. George News that two detectives flew to New Mexico, and once they took custody of Pearce, they drove him back to Washington County and he was booked into jail.
The charges stem from an investigation that began four months earlier, when officers responded to a report of a sex offense involving a 9-year-old child on June 11, 2020. The child was being cared for by a family member, according to the affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrant.
