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ST. GEORGE — A Washington man accused of sexually assaulting a preschooler is in jail on rape and kidnapping charges following an interview at the police department where authorities say he admitted to additional felony crimes involving children.
On Thursday, 59-year-old Philip John Wyler Cook was arrested. He was charged in 5th District Court on March 15 with four first-degree felony charges that include one count each of rape of a child, sodomy of a child, sexual abuse of a child and child kidnapping. He was also charged with endangerment of a child, a third-degree felony; and lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.
The charges were filed following an investigation that began when the Washington Police Department received a report involving the sexual abuse of a child that started in 2012.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the arrest, the abuse took place over the course of multiple years while Cook was in a position of trust. The abuse allegedly started when the child was 3 years old.
