OCR Text |
Show Sexual Abuse Charges Filed Against Mike Hill Sexual abuse charges were filed Friday against a state's witness who figured prominently at a June 1995 preliminary hearing when he testified testi-fied against his former employers and co-workers at North Star. Documents charging Michael Hill, 22, of San Carlos, Ariz, with forcible sexual abuse, a second degree felony, were filed in Sixth District Court where Hill testified for the prosecution in a case brought against owners and employees em-ployees of the Escalante-based youth wilderness program. The sexual abuse in the charge against Hill is alleged to have occurred in December 1993 in Garfield Gar-field County against a youth enrolled en-rolled in the program. In October 1994, the mother of a youth who had been enrolled at North Star when Hill served as a counselor had called Parrish's office (See Sexual Abuse Charges Filed Against Mike Hill on Page 3A) Sexual Abuse Charges Are Filed Against State's North Star Witness From Page 1 in Salt Lake City alleging that Hill had molested her son. She said Parrish told her she would receive a call from Diana Hollis, an i investigator in the Childrens Justice Division. The mother did not receive a call from Hollis until after she had hired an attorney. She says she was then told by Hollis that they had a confession from Hill acknowledging the molestation. She said she was told the investigation investi-gation would be turned over to the Washington County Attorney's office because of a conflict of interest. Repeated telephone calls from the mother to both offices over the next 18 months brought no action against Hill nor responses to her telephone calls. During that period of time, Hill was used by the state as a key witness at the preliminary hearing at which the defendants were bound over for trial. He also appeared on national television with comments against his former employers, but both the Attorney General's office and the Washington County Attorney's Office refused to discuss Hill or his whereabouts. Washington County Attorney Eric Ludlow, who took no action on the investigation, assigned Hill's case to Brent Langston who said he had not had time to proceed with it. In June the case was assigned to Marlynn Lema, whose signature appears on the charges filed Friday in Panguitch. The charges, according accord-ing to the complaint, are based on evidence from D. Hollis. Lema said on Tuesday that no arrest warrant had been issued for Hill because he was "cooperative and met our requests." Lema, who said in June she did not know where Hill was living, said she now knows but would not disclose his address, nor how she learned of it. She said she began talking with Hill about three weeks ago. The California mother who has been seeking action against Hill said that neither she nor her son had been interviewed by Lema, but that her son had been asked by Lema to submit a written statement. Another An-other California mother whose son had similar complaints said she, too, had sent a statement to Lema, as has a southern Utah mother whose son was 13 years old when sexual offenses alleged to have been committed by Hill occurred. Lema said a tentative date for an initial court appearance for Hill has . been set for Sept. 9 in Sixth District Court in Panguitch. The second degree felony carries a sentence of one to 15 vears. |