PLEASANT GROVE, Utah — Pleasant Grove police arrested a Riverton man Tuesday on suspicion of lewdness and object rape involving a child.
Nathaniel Jones, 34, is accused of inappropriately touching and masturbating in front of a preschool-aged child.
Pleasant Grove Police said Jones denied the accusations against him, but did admit the child may have seen him exposed and believed the girl was jealous of him.
The child's mother told police she believes the behavior began while on a camping trip.
During the trip, Jones told the mother that her daughter tried to touch and kiss him, a statement of probable cause said. Jones also told the woman about having a fetish with teenagers and pornography, the statement said.
"During the days following the camping trip with Nathaniel, (the child's) mother showed me multiple text messages from Nathaniel where he admitted that it was possible that (the child) could have seen him masturbating," an officer wrote in the probable cause statement.
According to police, investigators interviewed the girl, who told them Jones inappropriately touched her.
The girl also told her mother that Jones showed her pornographic videos and, regarding the allegation of inappropriate touching, "she was told that it was a secret and a game, and was not to tell her mother," the probable cause statement said.
