‘You wouldn’t want your family to get hurt, would you?’ Pocatello man accused of raping girl for years.

UPDATE: These charges have been dismissed. Read the latest story here.

POCATELLO — A man police say sexually abused and raped a girl between 1997 and 2004 faces multiple felony charges.

John William Tonks, 66, of Pocatello, has been charged with two counts of rape, court records show.

Pocatello police received a call on Oct. 27, 2021, from a woman reporting she was raped on multiple occasions between 1997, when she was 7 or 8 years old, and 2004, when she was 14, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Victim reports attacks

The victim, now 31, has since moved out of state. She told officers she had never disclosed details about the sexual abuse previously and provided them with a three-page handwritten statement.

According to the affidavit, the victim shared “vivid memories” of the abuse.

The first incident described in police reports happened at the victim’s home when she was standing at the kitchen sink. She said Tonks approached her from behind and groped while whispering in her ear, “Remember, this is just a hug.”

She said Tonks often said that while he was abusing her.

Another memory she described was one of her lying in a bed with her hands tied above her head with a blue necktie and Tonks raping her. She told officers she recalls feeling “confused and scared.”

She said she was unable to breathe during the attack because Tonks wrapped a plastic cover around her head.

When she began to cry, the affidavit says, Tonks hit her on the chest and told her to “shut up” and said, “You wouldn’t want your family to get hurt, would you?”

At some point, the victim described becoming dizzy and the room going black. The next thing she remembers is Tonks lying next to her and saying, “You know that you deserve this, right?”

Tonks, the victim said, told her often that she was “dirty,” “unworthy,” “unlovable” and deserved to be raped.

The rapes began when the victim was 10 and went on for several years. Attacks, the victim told police, took place at her home, Tonks’ home and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints building the two families attended.

The victim told officers that the abuse stopped when she was 14, but said she did not know what caused it to stop.

She said that the abuse “left her feeling dirty, broken and useless throughout her life,” adding that she has lived in fear for herself and her family since the attacks. That fear, she added, remains, as she is worried Tonks will retaliate with violence when he learns of her disclosure.

The victim provided officers the same details when she returned to Pocatello for an in-person interview.

Officers speak with Tonks

Officers spoke with Tonks on Dec. 13, 2021.

During the interview, Tonks told the detective investigating the crime that he had friends in the Pocatello Police Department and did not believe the detective was who he said he was. He told the detective he believed he was being scammed, the affidavit says.

“After he made several of his own phone calls” and confirmed he was being investigated, Tonks called the detective back.

During the conversation, Tonks allegedly refused to come to the police department to speak with the detective, saying, “I don’t know why I have to. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

He then called the detective crazy and hung up, the affidavit says.

Later the same day, the detective received a phone call from Tonks’ attorney, who requested a copy of the victim’s statement. The detective refused to provide the attorney with the statement until Tonks provided one of his own.

With his attorney present, Tonks was interviewed by police. Throughout the interview, the affidavit says, Tonks was “very emotional and cried.” Tonks said he never assaulted the victim or threatened her or her family. He said that the accusations were meant to “disparage his name and his status in his church,” the affidavit says.

The detective asked if Tonks would submit to a polygraph examination. He said that due to his having previously had a brain tumor he did not want to take a polygraph.

Witnesses

Officers spoke with two of Tonks’ family members, who said they shocked by the victim’s disclosures but not surprised, the affidavit says.

One of the family members described Tonks as being “a violent man” and “creepy.” The family member said she was afraid of Tonks. She said Tonks’ actions would drive his own family away, but he would offer “grandiose apologies,” including “crying, sobbing, begging for forgiveness, promising to repent and to speak with his bishop” to get them to return.

Both family members described Tonks as following this “cycle of behavior” throughout his life. They said he portrays a “righteous” behavior but is “very domineering and violent.”

Searching Tonks’ home

Officers served a search warrant at Tonks’ home on Jan. 26, 2023. During the search, officers seized a necktie matching the description of the one the victim reported Tonks using to restrain her during one of the attacks.

Tonks’ wife called two months after the search and requested investigators take great care in handling the ties due to their sentimental value. There were worn, she said, while Tonks served an Latter-day Saint mission 35 years before.

Evidence technicians also collected two digital cameras found inside a closet in the home, and memory cards found stored inside the cameras. They also seized a collection of VHSs and DVDs — two of them were labeled with “sexy” and “sexyer” (sic) followed by the name of one of Tonks’ relatives.

Tonks was brought into the Pocatello Police mobile command unit for interview while the search warrant was served. Once inside, Tonks asked what the search was regarding before looking at the search warrant. According to the affidavit, Tonks looked at the warrant and said he did not know what the officers were referring to regarding the claims of child sexual abuse.

Officer asked Tonks if he knew the victim, and he said he did. According to the affidavit, Tonks was making “crying sounds” as he said, “I never even touched her. I never touched (the victim). Never, ever, ever.”

Police reports say that Tonks’ eyes were not red or glassy, “which typically happens when someone cries.”

Examining evidence

On Feb. 1, 2023, officers began examining evidence collected during their search of Tonks’ home.

On the DVDs, officers found 24 photos of Tonks’ daughter. The images were not identified as being child sexual abuse material. Likewise, officers did not find any such material on either of the memory cards found inside the digital cameras seized at the home.

Tonks was not arrested or booked into jail, according to court records. He was instead served a summons to appear in court and did so.

Though Tonks has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If he is found guilty, Tonks would face up to life in prison.

The charges were bound over to district court following a preliminary hearing Monday. They will be assigned to a district judge, and an arraignment hearing will be scheduled.