UT - Utah police officer who killed family and himself had ‘secrets’

Joshua Boren & Family

Original Article

Remember, those who scream the loudest, or those who hate another person or group, usually have something to hide and/or see themselves in those they hate.

07/07/2014

By Jessica Miller

Lindon police Officer Joshua Boren had secrets.

In a green notebook police found in his bedroom in his Spanish Fork home in the days after he shot and killed his family and then himself, he numbered them:

"Secret 1. I live the typical normal person’s life."

"Secret 2. I have a sex addiction."

The list goes on.

"Secret 6. I’ve always hated sex offenders and their behaviors. I’ve publicly humiliated them."

"Secret 7. I have been sexually abusing my wife for several years."
- And he himself, if he were still alive, would be a sex offender!

While some of Boren’s secrets were known to the circle of family and friends who had watched his marriage to Kelly Boren unravel, everyone who knew the couple were shocked to learn that on Jan. 16 Boren had shot and killed his estranged wife, his mother-in-law and his two young children before turning his handgun on himself.

On Monday, Spanish Fork police Lt. Matt Johnson said the Utah state medical examiner’s office confirmed detectives’ initial conclusion that the deaths were a case of multiple murder-suicide.

Johnson also confirmed that the 34-year-old Boren used his department-issued Glock 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol in the slayings of his 32-year-old wife, Kelly; the couple’s two children, Joshua, 7, and Haley, 5; and Kelly Boren’s mother, 55-year-old Marie King.

"Toxicology tests reveal the absence of any drugs or alcohol in the bodies of the victims or Joshua Boren," Johnson added.

In an investigative report obtained Monday through an open-records request, friends and family detailed to police the volatile relationship between Joshua and Kelly Boren, which centered around the man’s issues with sex, and apparently stemmed from when he was physically and sexually abused as a child.

Boren’s wife had confided to several friends that her husband had drugged her — putting Ambien in her protein shakes — then videotaped himself having sex with her while she was unconscious. She had discovered the tapes, friends told police, and had asked Joshua Boren to leave their house.

Investigators never found the video tapes, but the day before the fatal shootings, text messages show that Kelly Boren confronted her husband about them, telling him their marriage was over.

"You [expletive] raped me," she texted him, following up with four more messages consisting of a single word: "Raped."

Another text from the woman said, "You killed a part of me."

Friends who knew the police officer through work told investigators after the shootings that they knew the Borens were contemplating divorce, but also that they had a very "up-and-down" relationship.

Buck Bufton, who met Joshua Boren through the Utah County SWAT team, told investigators that he urged Joshua Boren to seek professional help.

"Buck advised that Josh Boren needed help 20 years ago," an investigator wrote. "With whatever happened to him as a kid, he needed help 20 years ago. Buck said Josh was able to fool a lot of us. Buck said Josh was a good officer and deputy. Buck said he knew Josh had problems, [but] he never imagined it was this horrible and that Josh was so far gone."

Friends of Kelly Boren told investigators that she had been having an affair for a few months before her death with a man she met at her gym. That man told police that he didn’t believe that her husband was aware of the affair, and that his phone number was saved in her phone as "Jana." They had exchanged nearly 13,000 text messages, he told police, and on the day before her death, he had exchanged messages with her throughout the day.

At one point, she texted him that "Josh is ‘starting crap’ again."

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UT - Former sex crimes officer (Jeremy Rose) charged with exploitation of minor

Jeremy Rose

Original Article

04/04/2014

By Pat Reavy

TREMONTON - A former veteran officer with the Tremonton Police Department was charged Thursday with 14 felonies for allegedly spying on a teenage girl and gathering nude photos of her.

Jeremy Rose, 37, an officer with the department for 12 years who was a sex abuse investigator and trained with SWAT, was charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; two counts of voyeurism, a third-degree felony; and other charges.

Rose is accused of setting up fake email accounts from a nude modeling agency, and then encouraging a female teen acquaintance to submit photos of herself, according to a police affidavit filed in Box Elder County's 1st District Court. Prosecutors say Rose took thousands of voyeuristic pictures of the teenager, set up a hidden camera in her bedroom and put spy equipment on her cellphone "to view all of (her) cellphone calls, voicemail messages, incoming and outgoing texts, photos and Web searches."

Rose was first arrested 10 months ago. Because the Box Elder County attorney knew Rose, the case was investigated by the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Rose suggested to a then-15-year-old neighbor that she could make money by sending nude photos of herself to a particular website, according to investigators.

"Witnesses told agents that Rose always knew where (the victim) was, showed up to places where (the victim) was, knew what emails and texts (the victim) was sending and receiving, and seemed to know a lot about (the victim) and her friends and activities that he would have no way of knowing except by monitoring her somehow," the charging documents state.

In the spring of 2012, the girl said she received an email from a company soliciting her to model. Rose told the teen he knew people at the company and encouraged her to take the job, according to court documents. She sent photographs of herself at first to Rose, who allegedly told her he forwarded them to the company. She later sent pictures of herself directly to two email addresses of people whom she believed worked for the website.

"They told her she could make more money by wearing less clothing," the charges state.

After submitting more than 150 nude pictures, she told the company she was quitting at the urging of her boyfriend. But the "company" told her she could be sued for not fulfilling contractual obligations, even though the girl told them she was still 17, court documents state.

Prosecutors say Rose was the person receiving the photos and doing the email correspondence the entire time. Rose allegedly set up fake accounts meant to resemble a real company with the same name.

Once police became involved and started serving warrants, they found computers and cellphones belonging to Rose with nude or partially nude images of the teen and a camera that was placed under a dresser in her room, according to charging documents. Investigators said there had also been attempts to erase data on the computers.

"There are over 1,000 images of (the victim) that appear to be from one or more videos that were made into still images," the affidavit states. Many of the images were of the teen drying off after a shower, or catching her reflection in front of a full-length mirror.

Rose was also charged Thursday with communications fraud, a second-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony; dealing in materials harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony; and stalking, a class A misdemeanor.

Rose resigned from Tremonton police in July. In December, a "minor" took out a protective order against Rose. It is not clear from court records if she is the same teen from the criminal case.

An arrest warrant with a $145,000 bail was issued Thursday. Rose is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

UT - POST Council sanctions 12 officers, 2 dispatchers

Brandon Haws (Right)

Original Article

03/27/2014

By Geoff Liesik

SANTA CLARA - The council responsible for disciplining wayward Utah peace officers meted out sanctions in 14 cases Thursday, including the case of a former school resource officer who sent inappropriate photos to a teenage boy.

Lindsay Jarvis, attorney for former St. George police officer Brandon Haws, told the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council that her client's involvement with the 17-year-old began out of a desire to help the boy.

"Mr. Haws lost his father at 4 years old," Jarvis said. "This particular student had lost his father in a car accident. Mr. Haws, with his position, attempted to act as a mentor or big brother to this student."

The officer and the student began exchanging text messages, sharing photos and communicating through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

"That interaction became inappropriate, quite frankly," Jarvis said.

But she also pointed out that an internal affairs investigation showed Haws was not trying to develop a sexual relationship with the teen. Instead, the officer made a mistake and "started acting like a teenager," the attorney argued.

Haws also addressed the council, asking that its members not strip him of his police certification — a sanction that would forever bar him from working in law enforcement in Utah.

"I have lived my entire life in order to be a police officer," Haws said. "I'm not here to have a pity party. I want to take accountability for what I did. I will say though that I don't think it meets the standard of revocation."

Haws admitted he sent the lewd photos when questioned Thursday by Utah Highway Patrol Col. Daniel Fuhr, a member of the POST Council. Shortly after that admission, the council voted unanimously to revoke Haws' certification for life.

The council also voted to revoke the certification of former Utah County sheriff's deputy William M. Barney for having a sexual relationship with a female probationer.

Council members approved lesser sanctions in 12 other cases.

Former St. George police officer Rick B. Goulding had his certification suspended for three years for engaging in sexual activity while on duty.

Christopher Schoenfeld, a former deputy with the Summit County Sheriff's Office, had his certification suspended for two years for willfully falsifying his application for certification.

Former Garfield County sheriff's deputy Cache Miller also had his certification revoked for two years for assaulting his wife in the presence of their children.

Wayne County sheriff's deputy Craig W. Brown and Unified Police Department dispatcher Chastity T. Corona each had their certifications suspended for 18 months for DUI.

The council suspended former Utah Department of Corrections officer Randall Scott Hall's certification for 15 months for theft and disorderly conduct.

One-year suspensions were handed down to former Springville police officer Nathan N. Brimhall for falsifying a police report, and to former UHP trooper Jon Gardner for a DUI arrest in Colorado that happened before he retired.

Sunset police officer Brian Kirby's certification was suspended for three months for a trespassing incident.

South Salt Lake police officers Anita Bench and Eric R. Jensen each received letters of caution for accessing the state Bureau of Criminal Identification database for unauthorized purposes. The council also issued a letter of caution to Makette Morgan, a dispatcher with the Utah Department of Public Safety, who slapped her former husband's face during a domestic dispute.

Lt. Al Acosta, who heads up POST's investigative unit, said Thursday that his staff received 176 reports of alleged misconduct by officers in 2013. From those reports, 108 cases were opened.

POST Director Scott Stephenson acknowledged that's "an upward trend" from what the agency has seen in past years.

"Just like with anything, there are peaks and valleys," Stephenson said. "These are tough situations. We're dealing with people and their lives. These are never easy things. This is the ugly side of my job."

Less than 1 percent of Utah's nearly 9,000 peace officers ever become the subject of a POST misconduct investigation, the director noted.

UT - Woman (Sarah Rutz) pleads guilty to false rape report

Sarah Rutz

Original Article

03/12/2014

By Kevin Jenkins

ST. GEORGE - A woman accused of filing a false police report that she was raped on a jogging trail under Sunset Boulevard last year pleaded guilty to the charge Wednesday as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Sarah Rutz, 27, pleaded guilty to a felony count of making a fraudulent claim to the crime victim reparations fund and a misdemeanor count of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.

Two other counts of false information to an officer were dismissed under the agreement.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 7, but Judge James Shumate allowed the attorneys to dictate the terms that the court will commit to because a new judge will preside over the final hearing after Shumate’s retirement at the end of this month.

Under the terms of the plea and sentencing agreement, Rutz will serve 30 days in the Washington County jail on a weekends-only schedule and must complete restitution payments to the victim fund.

After completing her jail term, she will serve a period of court-ordered probation. Once the probation is finished successfully, Rutz can file a motion to have the felony count reduced to a misdemeanor, but Shumate warned Rutz that if she violates her probation she could end up doing additional jail time.

“Judge (G. Michael) Westfall will be bound to those terms … if you successfully complete your probation,” Shumate said.

In May 2012, Rutz reported she was attacked by a stranger on the path that crosses below street level near Sunset Boulevard and Dixie Drive, touching off a temporary closure of the trail amid a police investigation and search for the suspect in the community.

Male DNA samples not belonging to Rutz’s husband were collected during a sexual assault response at the hospital, and Rutz twice reported seeing her alleged attacker in the community while she received more than $25,000 in financial assistance from the crime victim fund for recovery-related services.

But in September 2012, police reported Rutz’s story had unraveled after her husband found evidence she had contacted a man she met through the personals section of Craigslist. Police contacted the man, who said he and Rutz had a relationship, and the DNA collected during the investigation was found to match a sample he provided.

UT - Utah group homes fight paranoia and stigmas

Original Article

02/16/2014

By Mark Saal

MORGAN - Last summer, when Alpha Counseling & Treatment went before the city council here, seeking to put a youth group home into a residential neighborhood, you'd have thought they were asking to open a meth lab.

Mace Warren, clinical director for ACT, was seeking to house up to 12 boys in a six-bedroom home at 535 Derrick Circle. These were boys, according to Warren, exhibiting "moderate male behavioral disorder," including Asperger's syndrome, autism and other developmental disabilities.

Neighbors packed the small city council chambers, worried that the proposed home would bring violence, drugs, sex offenders and other troubles to their small community. When the city council finally -- reluctantly -- approved a conditional-use permit for the group home, tearful, angry residents in the neighborhood talked of selling their homes.

So, do they? Sell their homes, that is?

As it turns out: not usually.

There are plenty of residential group homes in Northern Utah -- some have been operating here for years. And generally, once the initial fuss dies down, neighbors are fairly accepting of group homes.

"I did worry at first, because I didn't know what to expect," said Paul Rohde, who lives next door to a group home in North Ogden. "But it was more a concern out of not knowing what it would be like."

The Rohdes have lived in their current home for seven years; the group home has been there about three. He says the residents of the group home have been no more trouble in the neighborhood than his own three children.

"They've been fine, we've had no issues," he said. "The first year they were here, they picked up all our leaves, and we've got a ton of trees. They raked our leaves again this year."

Rebecca Ostler, who lives on the other side of the group home, says the only problem she's had is that it was a bit of a disappointment to her own children.

"At first, it was kind of hard for my boys, because they saw boys there at the house and wanted to play with them," she said. But, Ostler says, the boys at the group home aren't allowed to interact with neighborhood children.

"They're kept away from the neighborhood, and have strict rules," she said. "They're friendly, they say hello, but they don't interact."

Other neighbors of this group home at 1217 E. 3100 North, in North Ogden, operated by Crossroads Academy, have similar tales to tell.

"I didn't know they were in until they were in," said neighbor Judy Howard. "But we've never had any problems with them."

A year ago, as the Howards were cleaning up following a windstorm, two young men from the house stopped by and asked, "Can we help you pick that up?"

"We've never had any cop cars there, or anything like that," Howard said. "And none of the neighbors say they've seen increased break-ins. They're very quiet, and the house is well-maintained."

And neighbor Betty King said: "They've not been any problem at all. I see them come sliding down the street on skateboard sometimes. But they're just like anybody else."

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