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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities charged Thursday that a man accused of kidnapping his roommate's 5-year-old daughter and taking her to Utah had been molesting her for months.
Prosecutors added 22 felony molestation charges, two child endangerment charges and one burglary count to the three kidnapping and child abduction charges already filed against Charles William Mix, 48.
"The molestation counts are alleged to have occurred beginning in January through June 1, meaning that the molestations that are charged occurred prior to the kidnapping," said Allison Nelson, supervising deputy district attorney for Riverside County.
She declined to give details.
Mix was set for arraignment Thursday but the hearing was continued until June 18.
Mix had been living with the girl and her father in Riverside for two months. The girl vanished Monday and was found later in the day after a concerned passer-by saw her eating lunch with Mix in a park in Richfield, Utah, and called police.
Mix, a part-time worker at Chino Airport, allegedly took the girl to Utah in his boss' stolen pickup truck.
Nelson said she did not know exactly what Mix's plans were.
"By inference the charges are that he had intent to commit sex acts with her," she said.
Nelson said there was no evidence that the girl's father or her mother, who lives in Stanton, knew the molestation was occurring.
Nelson said more charges were possible and authorities were also trying to determine if there were more victims. Mix faces 176 years plus two life terms in prison if convicted, she said.
Authorities were still trying to determine if Mix had a previous criminal record, Nelson said.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
