Tag: Utah

UT: Utah woman says justice system failed to protect her from an accused serial predator

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Source: ksltv.com 12/13/22 Vanessa Clark is in disbelief. “I can’t believe that he was able to do what he did,” she told the KSL Investigators. On Nov. 7, Clark reported to law enforcement that she was raped by Joshua Homer, 26, after he invited her over to his home in Vineyard. Clark said the two initially connected through an online dating app and were meeting up for the first time. “It’s something that lives with you every single day now,” she said. “It’s just kind of hard to go forward.”…

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UT: Audit: Staff shortage at Division of Adult Probation and Parole contributing to repeat offenses

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Source: ksl.com 11/16/22 A legislative audit blames recent “serious crimes” committed by people on probation or parole on high turnover rates and inexperience on one of Utah’s parole boards. The Utah Department of Correction’s Division of Adult Probation and Parole lacks the staff to adequately supervise and screen sex offenders and offenders with mental illnesses, according to the Legislative Auditor General Office’s new audit. The office presented its findings to the Legislative Audit Subcommittee on Tuesday, along with two other audits addressing the Board of Pardons and Parole, and cooperation…

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UT: TRICK OR RETREAT: Why doesn’t Utah have sex offender laws for Halloween?

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Source: abc4.com 10/27/22 SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Several states across the country have different laws limiting what sex offenders can do around children on Halloween. This includes not being allowed to pass out candy, display decorations, dress up in a costume or answer the door to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.   However, Utah does not have any of those laws.   … ABC4 News asked multiple police agencies in Utah how often they see registered sex offenders creating problems on Halloween. Both the West Jordan Police Department and Unified Police…

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UT: Utah Court of Appeals reverses sex offender’s conviction, claiming state failed to prosecute case for 2 years

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Source: fox13now.com 10/17/22 SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Court of Appeals has reversed a sex offender’s conviction after they say prosecutors failed to notify him they’d charged him or were prosecuting him. In to a 74-page document filed by the Utah Court of Appeals on Friday, Judge Ryan Harris said the appellant, Chad Hintze, wasn’t made aware of a charge against him for two years. The charge, according to the documents, stemmed from an incident in June of 2016 in which Hintze and a teenage girl were eating and…

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UT: Former prosecutor for AG’s Child Protection Unit arrested in child porn investigation

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Source: ksl.com 8/25/22 SPANISH FORK — A man who used to work for the Child Protection Division of the Utah Attorney General’s Office has been arrested and accused of possessing child pornography. Gary ___, 66, of Spanish Fork, was arrested Wednesday by Utah County sheriff’s deputies for investigation of six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. The investigation began Aug. 4 when investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of suspected child pornography being uploaded on a social media app. Police say the…

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UT: Senator will not pursue sex offender registry amendment removing the term “sex offender” and some presence restrictions

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Source: kslnewsradio.com 1/6/22 SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that would have proposed changes to the Sex Offender Registry in Utah will not move forward in the 2022 legislative session after all.  Sen. Michael Kennedy, R-Alpine, initially filed SB0052 late in 2021. It would have potentially allowed registered sex offenders to go to places like schools and parks, if they are with an adult. The bill would also have replaced the term “sex offender” with registrant. Read the full story  

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Utah Action Alert: Support Senate Bill 52 to lessen restrictions on sex offenders

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Source: ksl.com 12/30/21 SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that could come up in the 2022 legislative session would change restrictions for sex offenders. The bill is sponsored by Utah state Sen. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine. The bill that could come up in next month’s legislative session would amend the state’s sex offender registry. Senate Bill 0052 would allow registered sex offenders to go to places like schools and parks, if they are with an adult. Also, if passed, the bill would replace the term “sex offender” with “registrant.” Read the…

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UT: Request from registered sex offender to change taxi driver ordinance raises bigger questions

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Source: stgeorgeutah.com 8/8/21 A local resident’s request to the Cedar City Council for an exemption to one of its ordinances has raised the question of when – or if – a convicted sex offender who has since served their time and been crime-free should be allowed to have the same freedoms to pursue a living as other citizens. The issue first came up in May when Enoch resident Jamie Sherman spoke to the City Council during the public comment portion of the agenda. Sherman told the council that he and…

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UT: Lawmaker wants voters to decide on time limits for raising old claims of sex abuse

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[deseret.com – 4/7/21] Since the Utah Supreme Court struck down a state law reviving old claims of sexual abuse, a state lawmaker says she will propose a ballot measure allowing voters to effectively bring it back. “I’m committed to that,” Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said Wednesday. “I will be doing that during the 2022 session.” Romero made the comment at a news conference recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, saying it can take years for people to accept what happened to them early in life, often at…

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UT: Supreme Court strikes down law allowing sex abuse lawsuits

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The Utah Supreme Court has struck down a state law that allowed victims of sexual abuse to sue decades later, siding against a woman who alleged a former federal judge raped her when she was a teenage witness and he an attorney prosecuting a white supremacist serial killer. The state’s high court ruled the 2016 law unconstitutional, finding the Utah Legislature did not have the authority to effectively erase statutes of limitation after they already timed out. “The problems presented in a case like this one are heart-wrenching. We have…

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UT: Utah man exonerated years after sexual assault conviction

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[kutv.com – 9/10/19] A Utah man is free today, exonerated, after spending years behind bars for a sexual assault he did not commit, according to a judge. Christopher Wickham, 50, was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault in Salt Lake City in 1997, each a first degree felony. He was imprisoned and placed on the sex offender registry. Utah Third District Court Judge Royal I. Hansen signed an order today exonerating Wickham, according to the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center. It said a post-conviction investigation showed “numerous pieces of…

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UT: Lawmaker calls for study in taking some convicts off sex offender registry

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It’s a sensitive issues at the Utah Capitol — maybe close to alcohol policy, marijuana and Medicaid expansion — who goes off Utah’s Sex Offender Registry. Depending on the sex crime, convicts now can stay on for ten years, or for the rest of their lives. “We tend to kind of group those sex offenders together in the same broad brush category,“ said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Davis County, who maintained Wednesday during a legislative committee hearing, the circumstances of the criminal acts are often very different. “Sometimes with these controversial…

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UT: Social work expert disagrees with federal law enforcers about sex offender treatment

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[deseretnews.com – 12/15/18] A University of Utah social work professor and therapist disagrees with the state’s top federal law enforcement officials’ assessment that treatment for child sex offenders doesn’t work. Rob Butters, who has also worked as a probation officer, said it’s unfortunate they made the statement in a public forum because “it’s simply not true.” “We know that treatment works a lot better than incarceration,” he said. “Prison doesn’t make people better. It just keeps them incapacitated.” U.S. Attorney John Huber and FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Barnhart…

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Lauren McCluskey Murder: What’s the Point of the Sex Offender Registry?

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At approximately 8:20 p.m. on Monday, October 22nd, University of Utah college student Lauren McCluskey, 21, was found shot to death inside a car parked on campus. Only a short time before, the star track-and-field athlete had been on the phone with her mother, Jill McCluskey, who reported hearing her daughter’s last words. “Suddenly, I heard her yell, ‘No, no, no!’ I thought she might have been in a car accident,” Jill McCluskey said in a statement to press. “That was the last I heard from her.” … Rowland’s status…

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