Utahn acquitted of raping student now charged with raping 6-year-old

Samuel H. Butler, 24, of Saratoga Springs, was charged Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, wth raping a 6-year-old girl and other charges. He was just acquitted last month of raping a Dixie State University student. | Utah County Jail

PROVO — Less than three weeks ago he was acquitted of raping a college student.

On Tuesday, Samuel H. Butler, 24, of Orem, was formally charged with raping a child.

Butler is now charged in 4th District Court with three first-degree felonies: rape of a child, sodomy on a child and aggravated sexual abuse of a child. In addition, he is charged with sex abuse of a child, a second-degree felony, and witness tampering, a third-degree felony.

The Utah County Attorney’s Office noted in charging documents that if convicted on the rape of a child charge alone, Butler could be sentenced to 25 years to life in the Utah State Prison.

On Feb. 12, Butler was staying the night at the home of a woman he was dating. At some point during the night after the mother had fallen asleep, Butler raped the woman’s 6-year-old daughter, according to charging documents.

“According the the victim, (Butler) told her he wanted to ‘marry her.’ He also apologized for what he’d done and promised her it wouldn’t happen again,” the charges state.

The girl immediately told her mother what had happened and the mother confronted Butler.

“(He) begged her not call the police, asked her if there was anything he could do to convince her to not call police, and even offered her money if she didn’t contact the authorities. When it became apparent that victim’s mother had called police, (Butler) retrieved a knife from the kitchen, went outside and began cutting his wrists,” according to the charges.

Butler drove away before police arrived but surrendered to authorities the next day.

The incident comes less than three weeks after Butler was acquitted of raping a Dixie State University student.

On Jan. 31, a jury found Butler not guilty of raping a woman he met online in a 2017 case. Washington County prosecutor Ryan Shaum, who oversaw that case, said on Friday the outcome will haunt him.

“I still call her a victim, even though he was ... legally acquitted. But being found not guilty is not innocent,” he said of the student, breaking down.

Now, he’s coming to terms with the new allegations, saying maybe it’s a “failure on our part to obtain justice for this particular victim and protect the community, and now we have a little girl allegedly sexually abused by this same individual. It causes you to wonder what more could be done.”

Even prior to his arrest in 2017, Butler was also suspected in six other sexual assaults involving women he met online, according to police. But no charges were ever filed.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2u9F1nw