Charges dismissed against Pocatello man accused of raping young girl
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POCATELLO — The charges against a man accused of raping a woman for multiple years have been dropped.
John William Tonks, 67, of Pocatello, was initially charged with two counts of rape.
The charges were dismissed with prejudice on Oct. 10, meaning the case cannot be refiled again in court.
According to Tonks’ attorney, Allen Browning, the charges were dropped because of testimony by multiple witnesses who reportedly discredited the woman’s accusations.
Court documents say Pocatello police received a call on Oct. 27, 2021, from a woman reporting she was raped by Tonks on multiple occasions between 1997 when she was 7 or 8 years old, and in 2004, when she was 14.
According to Browning, the woman stated she had been raped by Tonks once at his home, where he tied her up with a “distinctive blue necktie” and another five times in the span of one year, during family gatherings at an LDS church in Pocatello.
Witnesses at a preliminary hearing reportedly refuted that Tonks assaulted the woman.
“It would be ludicrous to believe, as (the woman) testified, that she would have been grabbed by Mr. Tonks on five separate occasions in the same place while looking for a bathroom, and that she was attacked while doing this five separate times in the exact same way during family gatherings at the LDS church on 4th street,” says Browning.
Browning also says the Tonks family had no planned gatherings at the LDS church during the alleged time frame.
“There were no Tonks family gatherings at that LDS church during the time frame alleged,” says Browning. “Mr. Tonks did not own the blue necktie that (the woman) specifically identified as being used to tie her hands up and then rape her until 10 years after the alleged rape.”
Browning says all of the man’s blue neckties and items seized during a search warrant tested negative for the woman’s DNA.
According to his statement, Browning also says that Tonks’ family members confirmed the woman never spent the night at their home, as alleged, and it was “impossible for that to have happened.”
“Faced with the overwhelming evidence that the allegations against John Tonks were false, the charges against him were dismissed with prejudice,” says Browning. “Mr. Tonks would like to have his reputation, that was dragged through the mud by (the woman), restored to him.”