LAS VEGAS (AP) - A suspended Las Vegas police officer
is facing a felony child lewdness charge after being accused of groping a
family friend's daughter during tent camping trips.
Police say the officer, 43-year-old Garrett
Vandereecken, was arrested Tuesday after the girl reported several groping
incidents beginning during a 2008 Memorial Day camping trip with the officer
and her parents to Zion National Park in Utah. The girl was 11 at the time.
Vandereecken was later freed on $100,000 bond.
The girl is now 15. Court documents say she told her
family about the incidents after taking a school class last year about sexual
abuse.
Her father initially confronted Vandereeken, then went
to police.
Vandereecken had been a police officer since 2008. He
is suspended without pay pending the outcome of the case.