[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
An 18-year-old was accused of having sex with a very young minor and faced the possibility of years behind bars. However, they will not serve any time AT ALL now, thanks to a relative in the Utah state Senate changing the child rape laws after the allegation. Yes, you read that right.
According to a report from The Salt Lake Tribune on Saturday, during a “random conversation” with their mom back in 2023, a 13-year-old claimed an 18-year-old slept with them. And the mother did not hesitate to point out what this was to the child — rape. She told the publication:
“I just told [the child], ‘You understand what this is. [They’re] an adult and you’re not old enough to make these decisions.”
The mom said her kid “wanted me to report it,” so she contacted the police. Per court records, a friend of the 18-year-old also reported the accusation to law enforcement hours later. The adult was arrested and charged with two counts of child rape and two counts of child sodomy — all first-degree felonies. This meant the 18-year-old faced 25 years to life in prison and a requirement to register as a sex offender if found guilty. Plea bargain negotiations went on for months with no signs of resolving things.
But then, something happened… the law changed.
Related: Mickey Madden’s Wife Says He Was Sexting Teens — And Attacked Her When Confronted!
A bill sponsored by Republican Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore passed into law in March 2024, altering the sentencing rules for sex with much younger teenagers.
OK, so basically, 18 was the magic number before. If you were 18 and had sex with a 13-year-old, you were facing a child rape charge — a 1st-degree felony with a prison sentence of six years to life! And when you did get out you had to register as a sex offender.
But if you were still 17, completely different ballgame. Just a 3rd-degree felony: unlawful sexual activity. No life in prison, no sex offender registry. Big difference that birthday makes.
Well, the new law extends the protections of 17-year-olds to 18-year-olds, too — for as long as they’re still in high school, that is. And hey, guess who happened to fit in the window to benefit from the new law??
Technically, the new law wasn’t retroactive — but the high schooler got treated as if it was. Two months after the legislation passed, prosecutors offered the defendant a much more lenient plea deal.
The 18-year-old pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, a 2nd-degree felony, and three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery. Crucially, he was given no additional jail time beyond the week already served, just 420 days spent on home confinement in exchange. We’ll repeat that, NO more jail time. No having to register as a sex offender either.
Judge Rita Cornish also ordered the 18-year-old to serve four years on probation, complete sex offender treatment, pay a $1,500 fine, and perform 120 hours of community service. But considering the prison time that was on the table before the legislature stepped in? Pretty clearly a last-minute rescue.
In court hearings, the judge, the prosecutor, and defense lawyer Cara Tangaro, who helped draft the bill language, even recognized the new bill was crucial to getting the plea deal. Tangaro said at the sentencing:
“You saw the legislative change. We all agree that’s not retroactive, but the government did change their offer based on that.”
So yeah, really lucky the legislature just happened to change that law just then, huh?
Except… it wasn’t luck, y’all.
It turns out the 18-year-old is a relative of J. Stuart Adams — the president of the Utah state Senate. Per The Salt Lake Tribune, Senator Adams told Cullimore — who sponsored the bill — about the charges against the 18-year-old relative. He actually asked him to look into the issue! And then the bill got introduced and quickly passed.
Cullimore claims the law wasn’t changed just to impact the child rape case, despite his GOP senior telling him about it, adding:
“We just thought it would be the best policy.”
So we guess it’s just a happy coincidence that it all worked out for Adams and his family, huh?
Adams also denies any collusion, insisting he did not use his power to help his relative:
“Some have suggested this change was made to benefit the case I was made aware of involving the high school senior. That is simply not true. While the sponsor of [the bill] was aware of the case, I did not request the legislation and did not intervene or give input on the drafting of the bill.”
He also noted that no other legislature, as far as he knew, was aware of his connection to the issues, so “that case could not have influenced their decision to vote in favor or against the bill.” Sure, but… We know how these bills go. It’s not like everyone votes their conscience — they bend to the party! And the Republican party leader in the Senate was for lessening the charges for sex with 13-year-olds. So of course that’s what they voted!
We don’t imagine many can hear this story and not think it stinks of corruption. But one person who’s being vocal with her fury? The shocked mother of the 13-year-old! She understandably believes the 18-year-old received “special treatment,” regardless:
“It was out of nowhere. I felt like I was punched in the gut. I feel like a law is the law, regardless of who you are, but that wasn’t what was going on here. I feel like [the 18-year-old] just got special treatment…and nobody was going to say anything about it.”
Yeah, it does feel sometimes like these guys just keep getting away with it…
It’s especially poor timing for the Republican Party to be involved in this specific scandal, too… The GOP are currently, at a national level, being accused of putting the House of Representatives on early recess just to avoid voting on the release of the Epstein files. They all seem to be circling the wagons to defend Donald Trump, who was said to appear in the documents many times. He also was accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl — but of course, not when he was 18. He was about 48 when this allegedly went down. But hey, if more evidence did come out, they could always change the law…
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If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
[Image via MEGA/WENN/ABC4 Utah/YouTube]
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