Additional charge of lewd conduct with a minor filed against Pocatello high student
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POCATELLO — A Pocatello man already facing a potential life sentence has been charged with felony lewd conduct with a minor under 16 years of age.
At the time of his Jan. 12 arrest felony charges for two counts of rape, sex abuse of a minor and lewd conduct with a minor had been filed against 18-year-old Zachary Michael Park. However, the lewd conduct charge was dismissed that day.
That charge has since been re-filed, according to court documents.
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Park was arrested following a police investigation initiated in September after a fellow Pocatello High School student accused him of rape.
After the alleged attack was reported to deputies with the Bannock County Sheriff’s Department, the girl, who was 15 at the time, was taken to Portneuf Medical Center. There, police reports show, a rape kit was conducted and DNA was recovered.
When officers spoke with Park in January, he first denied any sexual contact, then admitted to consensual sex after learning of the DNA collection.
According to his account, the two had sex but he stopped when she told him to do so.
The victim told detectives that the act was not consensual and that he did not stop despite her requests for him to stop.
The new charging documents show that, in addition to standing charges of sex abuse of a child and two counts of rape in which the victim is under the age of 16, Park now faces a felony charge of lewd conduct with a minor. Court documents show that the victim of the new charge was between the ages of 13 and 14 at the time of the alleged offense.
Should he be found guilty, Park would face a prison sentence of one year to life for each of the rape charges, 25 years for sex abuse and up to life in prison for lewd conduct with a minor. He also faces as much as $200,000 in fines.
Although Park has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.
He is scheduled to appear in court for jury trial before 6th District Judge Robert Naftz on June 14.