Grantsville Man Charged, Suspected Of More Than One Child Rape

TOOELE COUNTY, Utah – 48-year-old Mark Swan is in the Tooele County jail facing 37 charges including suspicion of child rape, child sodomy, and sexual exploitation of a child.

Friday morning, Grantsville police detectives thought there were three victims.

However, after doing more interviews later in the day, police say there are now nine victims and think there’s a chance more could be out there.

This case began when 7 and 11-year old sisters were at Swan’s house earlier this week, playing with his kids, when he allegedly took them into a room individually and asked them to do things and perform sexual acts.

The girls refused and told their parents, who then called police.

When police started interviewing the sisters, they found their 13-year old autistic brother was allegedly raped by Swan, several times, for at least the past four years.

“Kids are scared. I mean, he did a very good job at threatening these kids to make them afraid. So, because he threatened these kids, these kids were afraid to come forward. It took some time,” said Officer Cody Painter with the Grantsville Police Department. “Luckily, there was a brave 7 and a brave 11-year old girl who came forward. That mom has raised her kids right. They weren’t afraid to tell and it was a day later when they disclosed that helped so all these other kids could get justice.”

Swan, who police say does not have a criminal history, is being held in the Tooele County jail without bail.

Officer Painter also said detectives were able to gather a lot of evidence, including cell videos and possible items with DNA on them.

Police are asking parents in this community to talk to their children, especially if they’ve been in contact with Swan.

If there’s anything suspicious, police want you to give them a call.