A Provo man who prosecutors say raped his 15-year-old stepdaughter with his wife was denied bail on Tuesday, a little over a month after he and the girl’s mother told police they felt it was “safer” for the teen to have sexual experiences with them.
The couple was arrested on March 7 after the girl reported to authorities that her 34-year-old stepfather had raped her, according to police documents. The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent, and is not naming the girl’s parents to avoid identifying her.
The girl’s stepfather told investigators that he and his wife — the girl’s 38-year-old mother — abused the child together, police records state. They explained they felt it was “safer” for the girl to experience “sexual things” with them instead of strangers, an officer wrote in police documents.
The man was charged in 4th District Court with three counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of rape, two counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape. The girl’s mother faces two counts of forcible sodomy, one count of forcible sexual abuse, one count of object rape and one count of lewdness.
Before the man was denied bail Tuesday, the girl’s mother appeared first in court, where her attorney said he intends to file a competency petition. The purpose is to review the woman’s competency to stand trial, according to Utah State Code. She will be evaluated within the next six weeks, and 4th District Judge Roger Griffin scheduled her next hearing for May 28.
Joshua Esplin, the stepfather’s defense attorney, argued Tuesday that the man should be released on bail because of his relative lack of criminal history, citing only one prior misdemeanor conviction against the man, though the offense was not specified.
Esplin acknowledged that, based on the current “charges alone,” a public safety assessment meant to determine the risk of releasing a defendant before trial recommended that the man be held without bail. But Esplin argued that the charges should not be the sole reason for a denial of bail, and that otherwise, the assessment would have recommended his release.
The defense attorney also noted a protective order was filed against the man on March 20, which prohibits any contact with the stepdaughter, court records indicate.
“I am deeply concerned about this defendant and his state of mind,” Utah County prosecutor David Sturgill said during the Tuesday hearing. “The concern is that I just don’t know the defendant truly understands what he’s done, sees what he’s done — and I think as long as that’s the case, I think he always poses a risk to reoffend.”
Sturgill added that the man’s apparent justification of the sexual abuse — that it was “almost an altruistic thing” in an “effort to help keep the [girl] protected”— concerned him.
The couple has four other children together, who have since been placed with a relative during a Division of Child and Family Services investigation, Esplin said. Until the pair’s “thinking errors” are addressed, Sturgill argued the couple would be a risk to any child they’re around, including their own.
Griffin denied the man’s bail, ruling that releasing him would present a danger to the community and risk witness tampering. He also contended the man would be a flight risk because of the severity of the charges, which could carry a sentence of life in prison.
Griffin scheduled the man’s next court hearing for April 30. The couple remains in custody at the Utah County Jail.
