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Champion bodybuilder charged with raping woman in Utah in 2018

The current Mr. Olympia, bodybuilder Shawn Rhoden, has been charged with raping a female bodybuilder last year in Sandy.

Rhoden, 44, of Santa Barbara, Calif., was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with rape and object rape, both first-degree felonies; and forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

According to a probable cause statement, the competitive female bodybuilder went to visit Rhoden, her “mentor and colleague,” at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel at 10701 S. Holiday Park Drive, Sandy, on Oct. 12. The woman told police that Rhoden began kissing her, disrobed her and began to rape her, even though “she asked him to stop repeatedly and tried to push him away.”

The woman said Rhoden stopped when she told him she had to meet a photographer waiting for her downstairs or the photographer “would know ‘something (was) up.’”

The charging document indicates that a DNA sample obtained from the woman's body was a match to Rhoden.

A warrant has been issued for Rhoden’s arrest; he was not in custody as of Friday afternoon.

This is a developing story.