BLACKFOOT — An 18-year-old local man has been charged with multiple felony sex crimes after police say he carried on a monthslong sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl earlier this year, at one point taking her across the state line into Utah.
Owenn Glenn Pryor, of Blackfoot, has been charged with three counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 16, all felonies, according to court records and a police report contained within a probable cause affidavit the Idaho State Journal recently obtained.
The investigation into Pryor began in February when Blackfoot police were twice dispatched to a Bingham County home after the girl was reported missing, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in 7th District Court on Sept. 2.
During the first report on Feb. 7, the girl's family told police she had left home the day before under the pretense of staying at a friend's house but had since turned up in a photo — taken by Pryor about an hour earlier — showing the two of them in a vehicle with "Utah Trip Gang" written on it, the affidavit states.
The girl was later located with Pryor at Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, Utah, with the help of the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office, according to court records.
On Feb. 22, officers were called out again after the girl failed to come home. A witness told police the girl had described herself and Pryor as being in a "talking phase," and that the girl had come home days earlier with what appeared to be hickeys on her neck that she believed Pryor had left there, according to the affidavit.
While following up on the report, an officer watched a vehicle drop the girl off at her residence, then trailed the vehicle after learning Pryor had an active warrant, court records show. Pryor was not inside when the vehicle was stopped, but the driver told police he had dropped off Pryor and the girl only moments earlier, the affidavit states. Police also obtained consent from the girl's mother to search her phone and collected the device into evidence, though the girl declined to provide the passcode, according to the affidavit.
Pryor was arrested on the outstanding warrant Feb. 24 and interviewed by detectives with his father present, court records show. He denied a relationship with the girl, telling investigators the two were "only friends," and was evasive when asked about the hickeys, police said. His father cut the interview short and invoked his son's rights after detectives said the girl's age was relevant to the case, the affidavit states.
Later that month, a witness told police the girl had disclosed having sexual intercourse with Pryor in January and February, and that the girl feared evidence of the relationship would be found on the phone officers had seized, according to court records.
On March 30, an officer on stationary patrol in Blackfoot was approached by two witnesses who said Pryor and the girl had been in the backseat of a car making out, police said.
The girl was cited for a curfew violation, and witnesses told police they had seen the two kissing, with the girl's legs draped over Pryor's and her head resting on his shoulder, court records show.
Witnesses also told investigators that in early April they had driven Pryor and the girl to a trailer at a Blackfoot business and returned to pick them up roughly two hours later, police said.
A search of the trailer turned up fresh footprints and handprints, and witnesses told police Pryor made comments afterward describing having had sex with the girl inside, according to court records.
Detectives also reviewed recorded jail phone calls Pryor made to another woman in early May, during which he discussed the relationship and acknowledged the girl was not yet 18, the affidavit states. Investigators separately recovered sexually explicit text messages between Pryor and the girl and learned from another witness that the two had been in contact and had a physical relationship dating back to when Pryor was 17, according to court records.
Exact details surrounding Pryor’s most recent arrest were not listed in court documents but police records show he was booked inside the Bingham County Jail on Aug. 20.
Pryor appeared before 7th District Magistrate Judge Scott H. Hansen for an arraignment hearing Sept. 3, where his bond was set at $50,000.
He is scheduled to appear in court again Thursday for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors will attempt to present sufficient evidence to elevate the case from magistrate to district court for trial.
If convicted, each of the felony lewd conduct charges Pryor faces carries a maximum penalty of up to life in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.