The Wasatch County GOP said it was “deeply concerned and troubled” about the allegations against David Nephi Johnson.
A county Republican Party official in Utah is facing child abuse charges after he was arrested earlier this week for what his 16-year-old daughter described to authorities as waterboarding.
David Nephi Johnson, who until his arrest Tuesday in Heber City headed the Wasatch County GOP, was arrested on one count of first-degree felony aggravated child abuse after the Utah Division of Child and Family Services received a report.
Johnson’s daughter told authorities in January that her father had “waterboarded” her for not cleaning her bedroom to his satisfaction, according to an affidavit obtained by HuffPost.
In the affidavit, an officer who interviewed the victim said she was emotional and crying while she “disclosed that approximately one and a half to two weeks before the interview, her father waterboarded her.”
The girl also told police that her father had grabbed her by the neck and took her “into the bathroom while the sink was filling with water,” the affidavit stated.
“She disclosed that [Johnson] dunked her head under, brought it out, splashed water in her face” and then dunked her head under “again and again,” the officer wrote.
The victim said she didn’t know how long the dunking session lasted, but told investigators she was sometimes unable to breathe for up to 30 seconds at a time.
“I don’t feel very safe. When I go to bed, I feel like I can’t sleep because I don’t feel safe,” she told investigators, according to the affidavit. “When my dad’s not home, I feel fine. But when he’s home, I never feel safe because I feel like something is going to happen.”
The victim alleged that her siblings had experienced the same punishment and said he hit them and made fun of them for crying.
Johnson was taken into custody Tuesday and was released on $10,000 bail the next day. His next court date is March 11.
After he was arrested, the Wasatch County GOP announced on its website that its members are “deeply concerned and troubled by the nature of the allegations brought forward by the Heber City Police Department,” before announcing that, “in accordance with our bylaws, Vice Chair Patty Sprunt will temporarily assume leadership to ensure the party continues its work for the residents of the county without distraction.”
Source: Utah News