Man charged with rape of minor after victim described alleged sexual abuse as a child

IDAHO FALLS – A man has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor after a woman reportedly told police she had been abused by multiple men for years.

Perry M. Thompson, 50, was charged with rape of a victim under the age of 16.

According to court documents, a woman reported to Idaho Falls police on March 29 that she had been sexually abused by four men since she was seven years old.

According to police reports, the victim first reported being sexually assaulted in 2009 by a man who she said is now dead. The case was investigated and presented to the Bonneville County District Attorney’s Office, which “deferred from filing charges due to a lack of evidence.”

The same victim reported another sexual assault in 2019, this time involving Thompson. The case was investigated and police said it was “unfounded.”

On April 2, an Idaho Falls police officer contacted the victim, who told her she did not like police officers and would rather speak to a counselor.

The officer then scheduled a forensic interview at the Idaho Falls Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center for Monday, April 8.

During the interview, the victim said that four men sexually abused her as a child.

The victim subsequently stated that Thompson had sexually abused her starting in 2013. She then made further allegations against two other men, against whom no charges were filed.

According to the victim’s testimony, Thompson had previously been convicted of a sex crime against children and had served time in prison at some point.

According to the National Sex Offender Registry, Thompson was convicted in Marion, Ohio, in 2009 of “illegal use of a minor in material or performances containing nudity.” According to court documents, that charge is equivalent to possession of child pornography.

For this reason, Thompson is currently a registered sex offender.

The officer later conducted a full check of Thompson’s criminal history, which revealed that he had also been arrested in 2009 for sex offender and unauthorized access to school children. The case was later dismissed.

The victim told the interviewer that Perry raped her multiple times until 2021. She further described Thompson’s abuse and claimed that he and his wife “medicated her against her will.”

The victim says Perry “forced her to take medication for her bipolar disorder and schizophrenia,” but she was never diagnosed with mental health issues. She told the interviewer she tried to report the abuse to police, but no investigation was launched.

After the interview, the victim spoke with the officer and gave him pages from a diary she had kept in which she detailed her written statements about the alleged abuse.

On April 15, the officer met with Thompson’s wife, who repeated some of the victim’s statements about the assault. The woman said she had no direct knowledge of the abuse and did not witness anything between the victim and Thompson.

On April 24, the officer met with the victim to conduct a “confrontational interview” between the victim and Thompson.

Thompson reportedly admitted to sexually abusing the victim when she was 15 or 16 years old. She said, “I was confused in many ways. You came to me and said, ‘If I do this, I’ll let you do that.’ And yes, it was manipulation on both sides.”

Thompson reportedly continued to blame the victim for the sexual assault, saying he told her it “has to stop.”

The victim reminds Thompson that she was a minor, to which Thompson responds, “There were times when I said we have to stop this. We can’t do this. How many times have I said that? And you still came to me.”

Thompson later reportedly apologized to the victim, but continued to blame her for the assault.

“I admit I did something wrong. I should have stopped it a lot sooner,” Thompson says in the recorded conversation. “I’ve tried to tell you how many times this needs to stop.”

Towards the end of the conversation, Thompson says he hopes “that this doesn’t get me in trouble, but, you know, yes, I’ve done some wrong things, but I feel like I was manipulated in a lot of them too.”

A warrant was issued for Thompson’s arrest on May 3, and he was booked into the Bonneville County Jail on May 8, where bail was set at $150,000, but later reduced to $75,000. A restraining order was placed on the victim.

Thompson’s case has been transferred to District Court and he is scheduled to appear in District Court for arraignment on June 24.

If convicted, he could face a life sentence in prison.

Although Thompson is accused of these crimes, it does not necessarily mean that he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.