CRIME, POLICE + COURTS
Mother reacts to third arrest of sex offender
Dec 22, 2021, 6:37 PM | Updated: Dec 23, 2021, 3:30 pm
Three adults were jailed in Salt Lake City this week on nearly 20 counts of child abuse. Photo credit: Getty Images
(The headline of this article was edited to indicate that the mother was reacting to the sex offender’s third arrest, not the second arrest as previously reported. We regret the error.)
SEVIER COUNTY, Utah — A registered sex offender was arrested on Monday and the mother of a girl he was convicted of sexually abusing more than ten years ago said he should not have been given parole.
Christopher Peck, 42, was booked into the Sevier County Jail and arrested for disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, intent to engage in sexual activity for fee, and dealing in materials harmful to a minor.
On Dec. 15, police say Peck approached a girl leaving Richfield High School. A police affidavit of probable cause said Peck knocked on her window and after she rolled it down, she says he asked her for her underwear in exchange for $30. She said she then rolled up her window and drove away. As a registered sex offender, Peck is not allowed on school property.
Peck was convicted in 2009 for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. He was sentenced to one to twenty years in prison. The mother of the girl Peck sexually abused said Peck was given parole about 13 months ago.
The mother says she spoke with her daughter about what happened this week in Richfield.
“This was my daughter’s biggest nightmare. She’s like ‘When does this stop? Who’s accountable for it,” she said.
The mother said she’s angry at the parole board for letting Peck out after about ten years and not having him serve ten more.
“It’s 13 months and he’s already reoffended,” she said. “And now there’s another victim.”
Peck was also convicted in 2002 of attempted forcible sexual abuse, according to court records.
“Let’s face it, the parole and probation folks are overworked,” she said. “The parole board had an option and they let the whole community down.”
She says there is not enough accountability within Utah’s parole system. She says she thinks the system should be reformed but doesn’t know what she can do.
“You call the governor’s office, they don’t answer. You call the lieutenant governor’s office, they don’t answer,” she said. “Tell me what I can do and what path I need to take, and I’ll do it.”
She says she’s afraid a similar thing will happen to someone else and doesn’t want anyone else to go through what her daughter went through.
“When does this stop? And I don’t know that it does with the current system we have and that sickens me,” she said.
