"Sexting" Leads to Arrest of Alleged, Prescott Valley Child Molestor

Prescott Valley Police Department

Ethan Cook, 20, allegedly molested a 14-year-old Prescott Valley girl.

​A Prescott Valley man got pinched Sunday for allegedly molesting a 14-year-old girl several times dating back to at least March.

The suspect, 20-year-old Ethan Cook, may have gotten away with it, too, had he not sent his alleged victim several "sext" messages of which her parents eventually became aware.

According to the Prescott Valley Police Department, on Saturday afternoon, the victims father called police to report that he had found several, sexually explicit text messages on his daughter's cell phone.

The father, police say, was made aware of the text messages when another family member had read them.

Once the victim's father discovered the text messages, he started putting the heat on his daughter and she eventually told him they were being sent from Cook -- an adult.

After he continued to press his daughter, the father got the daughter to admit that in addition to the text messages, Cook had also touched her inappropriately on several occasions dating back to March.

Detectives contacted Cook, who they say admitted he had "sext" messaged the girl.

He was arrested and booked into the Yavapai County Jail on three counts of child molestation, four counts of sexual abuse, and one count of luring a minor for sexual exploitation.