CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / PHELAN

Authorities have arrested a man on suspicion of sexually molesting his two teenage stepdaughters and having a baby with one of them.

The suspect’s wife also was arrested for allegedly knowing about the abuse but failing to stop it. Tony Slone, 43, was arrested Thursday in Chester, N.Y., after an investigation by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies indicated that he had repeatedly molested his 13- and 16-year-old stepdaughters. His wife, Anita Slone, 47, was taken into custody in Victorville.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, a girl from Silverado High School in Victorville contacted authorities after seeing sexually explicit messages on her friend’s cellphone from the girl’s stepfather. Deputies interviewed the 16-year-old, who told them Slone had raped and molested her since she was 12 and that she now had a 13-month-old child from him.

The girl’s 13-year-old sister alleged she had been molested since she was 9. Deputies said Slone was a long-haul truck driver who would take the girls on trips and molest them. They also said he was a registered sex offender who served eight years in prison for lewd acts on a child. Slone is now awaiting extradition to California.

Anita Slone was arrested on suspicion of felony cruelty to a child and is being held on $100,000 bail.

-- David Kelly