Utah sex offender arrested after waiting for cheerleader, allegedly making lewd proposition

RICHFIELD, Utah — A Utah registered sex offender has been arrested after a female student reported that while he was illegally on school grounds he approached her and made a lewd proposition.

Christopher Todd Peck, 42, is on parole for sexual-related offenses and is a registered sex offender according to court documents filed in Sixth District Court in Richfield. The probable cause affidavit also said that as part of Peck’s sex-offender registry, he isn’t allowed on school grounds.

Police say Peck was parked in a red truck truck on Richfield High School grounds at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 15. A cheerleader was leaving practice and as she was preparing to drive away, Peck, who parked with his driver’s window next to hers, knocked on his window and pointed down. The student thought he was going to tell her that she dropped something after she had just loaded her belongings in her car and rolled down her window a few inches to listen to him.

She reported that he then offered her $30 to remove her underwear. The victim reported he stated:

“If I gave you $30 would you give me the panties your wearing right now?”

She said he repeated the offer twice and then turned from facing her to his truck’s console. The girl rolled up her window and drove home, making sure she wasn’t followed. She reported the incident to the school who reported it to police. She described the man, described his truck and described a dog in the back seat.

According to police, Peck was identified as a person involved in a suspicious incident at the Sevier Valley Center on Nov. 22. and matched the cheerleader’s description of a man between 40 and 60 years old with grayish curly and messy hair with a beard. Police also learned in a records check that Peck had the specific type of red truck the victim described.

Police showed photos of two men, each with similar vehicles to that described by the victim. She pointed to the photo of Peck and said he was the person who spoke to her. The investigator also had previously visited Peck at his residence in Clearfield and remembered a dog there that met the victim’s description.

“With the victim identifying the photo of Christopher, his truck matching the description, and my knowledge of the dog, Christopher became a person of interest,” the police report said. Investigators also reviewed camera footage from the school that captured the truck in school locations including in the back parking lot of Richfield High School at approximately 5:10 p.m. Police said as it passed the west doors of a school a bright orange object was visible in the bed of the truck. Later it was recorded parking driver-door to driver-door next to the victim’s vehicle.

Video footage also showed the victim walk to her vehicle and get inside. The victim’s brake lights turn on and then the vehicle sits there for several seconds before leaving the parking lot. The red truck moved to another parking spot and stayed there for several minutes before leaving the area.

Police contacted Peck at his home just after he parked his 1977 red truck. Police spotted a bright orange hard had in the truck bed “in the exact same location” as the orange object captured in surveillance footage. Peck told detectives he had not been to the high school and had not loaned his truck to anyone.

On Dec. 20, police spoke to Peck at the Richfield City Police Department and advised of his Miranda rights. He told police he wanted to speak with a lawyer and was arrested and taken to the Sevier County Jail.

“It should be noted that per Christopher’s sex offender registry, he is refrained from being on school grounds. In dealing material harmful to minors, Christopher produced, performed, or directed the performance before a minor, or an individual whom Christopher believed to be a minor, that is harmful to minors,” the court documents said.

It said in the new incident, he “directed, requested, or offered a fee to the victim to engage in a sexual activity which included removing her panties, exposing her,” documents said. “Christopher requested these acts for sexual gratification.”

Documents state the offense he was arrested on suspicion of — dealing in materials harmful to a minor — is a felony committed while on probation, that he was on and remained on school property with the intent to commit another sexual offense.

“Christopher is a threat to the community, and showed complete disregard for his parole / sexual offender stipulations. Christopher should be held without bail to prevent others from being victimized,” the probable cause documents state.

He was arrested for dealing in materials harmful to a minor, intent to engage in sexual activity for a fee, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.