This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A former Orem police officer, who has been convicted twice on charges of sexually abusing children, was sentenced a third time Tuesday on one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
John Phillip Weatherly, 68, pleaded guilty March 22 to the first-degree felony charge and was sentenced to five years to life in prison Tuesday by 4th District Court Judge Steven L. Hansen.
Because of the plea agreement, four other charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child were dismissed.
Weatherly fondled a girl several times a week between November 2003 and January 2009 while the girl was living at his home in Salem, court documents state. The girl, now 13, told her father about the abuse in February of 2010. He then contacted police.
Weatherly worked for the Orem Police Department for 21 years before retiring as a lieutenant in 1996. He then worked for the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy until 2003.
In December 2003, Weatherly pleaded no contest to two class A misdemeanor counts of sexual battery of a child involving an 8-year-old girl.
In 2009, Weatherly abused another girl in Idaho, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison there for that crime, court documents state.
In all three cases, Weatherly denied the allegations against him, but later accepted guilty pleas, court documents state.