Mesquite police detective charged in sex abuse of St. George teen

A Mesquite police detective has been arrested and charged with sexual offenses involving a teenage boy in St. George.

Gary Erickson, 50, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas on Sept. 12. He was charged with one count of sexual abuse of a minor, one count of dealing in material harmful to a minor and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Erickson had worked for the Mesquite Police Department since 1999. The department announced Wednesday afternoon that he had been fired following an internal investigation.

Fifth District Judge Eric Ludlow in St. George had ordered the arrest warrant, setting a $50,000 cash bail.

Erickson, a resident of Bunkerville, Nevada, is accused of meeting a 15-year-old St. George boy on Grindr, a social networking app geared toward gay and bisexual men, and then arranging a sexual encounter in the locker room at the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center, according to court documents.

In interviews with St. George police, the boy said he initially represented himself as being 18, the legal age of consent, in personal messages sent to Erickson, but then later told the detective that he was 15, according to an affidavit filed in 5th District Court.

One exchange of messages indicated Erickson knew the boy was underage, according to the affidavit.

Erickson was initially placed on administrative leave, with Mesquite police stating in a press release early Wednesday that they were investigating the issue internally.

“Due to the pending investigations, representatives from the Mesquite Police Department are unable to comment further or provide any further information at this time,” according to the statement.

A St. George police detective started investigating the allegations Aug. 20 after the boy’s parents contacted the department, according to the affidavit. They indicated he has been sending and receiving nude photographs from an unknown man.

After meeting initially on Grindr, the two began to communicate via Snapchat, another messaging app, according to the affidavit. The parents said their son had arranged to meet with the man, named “Eric Smith” on his Snapchat account, at the aquatic center on Aug. 3.

In the affidavit, police said the boy described a sexual encounter with the man in a locker room stall and in the shower.

Police said they used the boy’s descriptions of the man and information provided by a scuba instructor to track down Erickson as a suspect.

The boy later identified Erickson in a photo lineup, according to the affidavit.

Homeland Security Investigations and the Las Vegas Metro Police Department worked cooperatively on the arrest, according to a press release from the St. George Police Department issued Wednesday afternoon.

"This is an ongoing investigation and no further information will be released at this time," it said.