A Lake Stevens man who went on Facebook asking for help to find his missing 11-year-old daughter is now accused of sexually abusing her for years, according to court documents.
Around noon on Monday, Sept. 29, a middle school student told her school counselor that her biological father had been sexually abusing her, court records show.
Police placed the child in protective custody, and a social worker escorted her to a forensic interview, where she disclosed that the abuse began when she was in the third grade.
That same afternoon, her father, Anthony Holt, 38, posted a desperate-sounding plea on Facebook: “Please help us find our daughter!!! Her name is [redacted] she is 11 years old and has gone missing from school!! We live in Lake Stevens!!! If anybody has seen her please contact me.” His post quickly spread, drawing thousands of shares and comments from concerned community members.
By evening, Lake Stevens police posted that the child had been found and was safe. But within hours, Holt was arrested.
According to charging documents, he confessed to being sexually attracted to children and admitted he had been hurting his daughter. He reportedly told investigators he “needed help to stop hurting her.”
Holt also wrote a letter to the victim apologizing for “the things I have done to you” and “for continuing to do those things that made you so uncomfortable,” prosecutors allege.
Holt was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on suspicion of one count of rape of a child and two counts of child molestation. He was arraigned in Everett District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
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