NEPHI — A member of the Juab County EMS Department and county search and rescue team has been arrested and accused of molesting a teenage boy.
Brian Pierce, 49, was booked into the Juab County Jail Monday for investigation of six counts of forcible sodomy and eight counts of forcible sexual abuse.
In August, a man reported to the Juab County Sheriff's Office that he was sexually abused by Pierce for several years starting when the victim was a young teen, according to a police booking affidavit. The sheriff’s office contacted the State Bureau of Investigation to take the case to avoid a conflict of interest.
Pierce used “money, clothes, cars and other gifts to manipulate and control the victim’s behavior,” the affidavit states. He then allegedly “placed fear into the victim” by telling him that if reported any of the incidents of sexual abuse that he “would never see Brian Pierce again.”
The affidavit notes that Pierce “is also in a position of trust in the community” because of his EMT and search and rescue jobs. The sheriff’s office said Tuesday that Pierce was placed on leave from search and rescue when the allegations were first raised in the fall. A call placed to Juab County EMS was not immediately returned. Pierce is not a certified law enforcer.
The state has asked that Pierce be held without bail due to the family’s fear of retaliation, according to the affidavit.