The Perry Police Department issued a statement Wednesday about the July 8 arrest of Jesse Donavon Taggart, 22, formerly of Perry and now of West Des Moines, who faces charges of second-degree sex abuse-forcible rape, indecent exposure and dissemination and exhibition of obscene material to a minor.
Taggart’s arrest and the charges filed against him “stem from a complaint that was made on May 31, 2017 of a possible sexual assault that occurred here in Perry,” according to Perry Police Department Chief Eric Vaughn.
The police investigation “discovered that probable cause existed to charge Taggart with assaulting a single female victim under the age of 12,” Vaughn said. Taggart “stands accused of committing a sex act upon that victim along with exposing himself to her and showing her obscene material,” he said.
Dallas County Magistrate Leslie M. Clemenson this week set Taggart’s preliminary hearing for July 19 at 11 a.m. in Dallas County District Court.
Taggart is being held at the Dallas County Jail on $25,000 bond.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
