When an Oro Valley man goes on trial next year for sexually abusing two girls after they went missing for several days in 2021, jurors will also be asked to decide if he is guilty of similar conduct with another young teen a decade earlier.
Moss Orion Worthington was arrested Dec. 1, 2021, after two 14-year-olds reported as missing were discovered in his apartment. One of the girls had frequent contact with Worthington via text messages before the girls were seen walking away from their school in Tucson on Nov. 22.
Worthington, 34, made incriminating statements during a post-Miranda interview which led to a grand jury indictment on 17 felonies of alleged sexual conduct and abuse, along with two counts of custodial interference. He faces more than 300 years in prison if convicted of all counts.
But those are not the only charges a jury will hear about during a six-day trial slated to begin April 18 at the Pima County Superior Court.
Back in February, another Pima County grand jury indicted Worthington on three felonies stemming from his alleged sexual conduct with a minor in 2011. Judge James Marner has consolidated the 2011 and 2021 charges for purposes of trial.
Worthington’s case has received much attention aside from the nature of the charges.
At his first court appearance after the 2021 arrest, Worthington was ordered to remain in the Pima County jail unless a $250,000 bond was posted. His attorney, Michael Bloom, challenged the order, which Marner later reduced to only a $50,000 bond over the objections of Pima County Attorney Laura Conover.
“The public record is clear. My office argued for continued detention and vehemently opposed any reduction of the bail amount. Judges make the final call,” Conover stated in January after the modification became public.
Worthington quickly posted bail, subject to a court order that he have no contact with any minors. He has appeared for all his court proceedings to date.
Bloom, a veteran criminal defense attorney, also went up against Conover’s office in two disputes for information concerning the 2021 victims. In one of the disputes, Marner ordered the county attorney to provide the defense with the full date of birth for the two named victims.
But Bloom was not successful in obtaining access to the court file of a delinquency case involving one of the victims. The attorney argued that some witnesses in the delinquency case will also be witnesses in the criminal trial, and therefore Bloom needs to know if their statements were the same in both cases.
Conover’s office, which called the defense request a “fishing expedition,” opposed the effort. Marner denied the request, ruling such juvenile case files are confidential by statute.