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Moab case: Predator faces new child sex charges
Lisa J. Church
27 Sep 2006 12:54 am
A judge on Tuesday postponed - pending completion of a court-ordered psychological report - the sentencing for a Moab man convicted last month of child rape.
But Bradley Schlueter, 51, must deal with new charges as well.
Schlueter faces a maximum of 15 years to life in prison after a jury convicted him on Aug. 3 of child rape, patronizing a prostitute, and dealing in material harmful to a minor. Prosecutors say they uncovered a years-long pattern of manipulation and abuse of young girls.
The new charges, filed by Grand County Attorney Happy Morgan, include two additional counts of rape of a child, a first-degree felony; three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year old, a third-degree felony; and one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, also a third-degree felony.
That's not all. He also is charged with witness tampering, a third-degree felony, and six misdemeanor counts of patronizing a prostitute. The charges center around multiple incidents that allegedly occurred between May 2001 and June 2003, according to information presented in court.
New web site helps parents keep a close eye on sex offenders
Robert Walz
07 Sep 2006 2:15 pm
Parents in Utah now have an easier way to find the convicted sex offenders living in their neighborhoods thanks to a recent change in Utah law and an Internet site based in Orem.
A recent change in Utah law released the addresses, photographs and criminal backgrounds of thousands of convicted sex offenders in Utah for public use.
Previously, only the Utah Department of Corrections could release the information to the public. But now a private company known as Familybeacon.com is making pubic information public.
With just a click of a mouse on the Familybeacon.com site, anyone can use Google map technology to zoom in on his or her zip code and find out who lives in your neighborhood. Red flags pop up to indicate the home of a convicted sex offender.
"Everybody is shocked at how many there are," said Scott Udy, Marketing Director for Familybeacon.com. "We haven't had one person who looked at the site and said oh I already knew that, everybody is shocked at how many red marks there are when they look up sex offenders in their area."
Udy helps run the Orem based Internet site called Familybeacon.com. Using information provided by state governments, Familybeacon.com maps the sex offenders living in the United States. "It will show their actual offense, the cars they drive and what they look like," Udy said.
Until last month, Utah law prohibited the public from using this information, but a change by the legislature put Utah on the sex offender map. ABC 4 producer Megan Herrick put in her address and zip code and watched the red flags pop up around her house. "Oh my gosh, look at all of those," Herrick said. The mother of two young boys didn't like what she saw only a few doors from her home and near the home where her children play. "See? That is where my kids are everyday, right around the corner from that house."
Parents can also sign up for an alert system on Familybeacon.com that will notify them by email if a convicted sex offender moves into their neighborhood. To see how many sex offenders live close to your home,log onto: www.familybeacon.com.
Man charged with trying to smother wife
Sara Israelsen
10 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Prosecutors filed charges earlier this week against Jarom Joel Braithwaite, 27, who placed a pillow over his wife's face in April after she refused to have sex with him.
The man had been watching pornography, then demanded that his wife take off her clothes so they could have sex, according to a police report filed in 4th District Court.
She said she told him no, because she was 8 1/2 months pregnant, after which he hit her in the arm and neck, according to the report.
The woman yelled for help and struggled to remove the pillow until she passed out. When she awoke, Braithwaite was gone and never mentioned the event again.
Two months later, the woman said her husband was watching pornography of women being tied up and raped. She left and took a shower, according to the report.
Capitol Hill rapist to return to Utah halfway house after serving prison time in Colorado
Reed Cowan
08 Aug 2006 7:59 pm
The man known as the Capitol Hill rapist will soon be back in Utah after a lengthy prison term in Colorado.
Bob Lee Boog Jr., who terrorized and raped women in the 1980s, will return to one of two halfway houses Tuesday night.
While the public focuses on Boogs release from prison to a halfway house, people who work to help victims of rape say our focus should be on those the perpetrator hurt.
Heather Stringfellow has worked for fifteen years for Utah's Rape Recovery Center and has been its director for the last two. She says, "We should remember there are sex offenders all around us. Not only on the sex offender registry, but also those who have not yet been caught."
Four child sex abuse cases hit local court
Jesse Fruhwirth
08 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Several unrelated but dreadful charges of sex crimes against children are making their way through the court system in Tooele. Second only to drug charges, sex crimes against children account for a large share of first-degree felonies on the court calendar.
Utah law defines rape of a child as sexual intercourse with an individual younger than 14 years old.
Sex abuse of a child is defined as any "indecent liberties with a child" under the age of 14 that do not amount to rape of a child & which implies sexual intercourse occurred & or sodomy on a child. Sex abuse of a child is a second-degree felony, but any of 10 aggravating factors can increase the crime to a first-degree felony.
Those aggravating factors include being a person in a "position of special trust" to the child, being a stranger to the child, causing bodily injury or severe psychological injury, or using a weapon or pornography during the abuse.
Sodomy on a child, under Utah law, is defined as "a sexual act ... involving the genitals or anus of the actor or the child and the mouth or anus of either person."
Loss of funding may mean end for at-risk youth help program
RANDY BOYER
07 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Drugs, statutory rape, criminal activity and suicide are a few of the choices confronted by Springville youth more often than the community would care to admit, Claudia Jensen says.
Jensen, the director of Springville City Out Reach to Students has been helping at-risk youth deal with these issues for four years, but waning support and the school year approaching, she wonders if the doors will open at all.
The program supports teens with academic, social or behavioral problems through a system of allotted mandatory homework time, tutoring, social interaction with positive role models and enrichment activities ranging from theatrical performances to CPR instruction
Both the school district and Springville city said that they too were looking for new locations, but with school starting at the end of this month the future of SCORS remains in doubt.
"I'm fighting all by myself," Jensen said. "These kids need somebody who cares, and I'm feeling like I'm losing the fight for them. The people who have cut support have no idea what SCORS has done for the youth of this city."
Son of Famous Polygamist Faces Child Rape Charges
03 Aug 2006 12:00 am
The son of polygamist Tom Green is in jail Thursday night, facing two counts of child rape charges.
Draper, Utah, police are saying 18-year-old William John Aldrich Green was having sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet. They add because the girl is under 14, the case is being investigated as rape of a child.
William Green was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. His father, Tom Green, is one of Utah's best known polygamists. He was convicted of bigamy in 2001 for having five wives. He is also serving time for child rape because he had sex with his first wife, a 13-year-old-girl.
Many Calling for Harsher Penalties for Online Predators
Debbie Dujanovic
28 Apr 2006 9:52 pm
Internet predators, our investigation exposed hundreds of Utah men trolling for children. Your response has been huge. Tonight we're getting results from Capitol Hill. Our investigative team discovered a twist, that's letting these guys walk.
For the predators it's a gamble. If they're caught by Federal officers, it's an automatic five years in prison. These guys got caught by local detectives, so does five years in prison still apply? Not even close.
Police: Attempted Kidnapper Strikes Again In Provo
Provo Police may have a serial kidnapper on their hands. A man wanted for trying to kidnap a young boy in Provo this morning may have struck again. This time, police say he targeted a 13-year-old girl just after 5:00 p.m.
Orem man arrested in sex-abuse probe
Police last week arrested a 20-year-old Orem man accused of having sex with a 12-year-old girl.
A police report filed in 4th District Court states that the man met the girl through her sisters, with whom the man was playing pool at an Orem bowling alley.
The man started a text-message and phone conversation with the girl. Then, police say, they arranged to meet somewhere else.
When they met, according to the report, the man and the girl got in the back seat of the man's car and performed sexual acts.
Deputy pleads guilty to child abuse
The seriousness of this case may have the public worried about how safe and reliable their police departments really are. Some may question how often this type of misbehavior occurs in Utah's law enforcement agencies.
1,900 Utah Sex Offenders Not In Compliance
State corrections officials estimate that as many as 1,900 sex offenders are not living at their registered address.
