Utah Man Acquitted Of Rape And Then Charged With Raping Child A Month Later

A Utah man who was acquitted of rape last month has been charged with raping a child.

On Tuesday, Samuel Heber Butler, 24, was charged with five felony counts for allegedly sexually assaulting a young girl and attempting to bribe her mother with money to keep her from contacting the police. This is Butler’s eighth time being accused of sexual assault, and his second time being charged with the crime.

Just a few weeks ago, Butler was acquitted of sexually assaulting a student from Dixie State University back in 2017. Police arrested Butler last week after another woman reported the man had recently sexually abused her 6-year-old. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Butler was charged with rape of a child, sodomy of a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, sexual abuse of a child and tampering with a witness in the 4th District Court.

The mother of the child said she met Butler on Facebook weeks earlier and invited him to her home in Provo last Wednesday. The woman said during his visit, Butler and her daughter fell asleep on the couch, and she left the two and went to sleep in her bedroom. Documents state Butler took his clothes off along with some of the girl’s and raped her.

“According to the victim, [Butler] told her he wanted to ‘marry her.’ He also apologized for what he’d done and promised it wouldn’t happen again,” wrote Deputy Utah County Attorney Dave Sturgill wrote in charging documents. The girl ended up running to her mother’s bedroom and asked if she could sleep with her because Butler kept touching her. When the mother confronted Butler, he pleaded with her to not call the police and offered her money, reports The Salt Lake Tribune.

Butler left the woman’s home but surrendered to police the next day. Reports show there is currently no court date.