Utah man arrested for rape of a child, sex crimes against 3 different girls

NOTE: The following story contains descriptions of disturbing sexual abuse. It should be read with discretion.

OGDEN, Utah — An Ogden man has been arrested Monday on suspicion of six counts of sexual crimes against three children, including rape of a child and sodomy of a child.

Jason Alan Schmitt, 47, is accused of sexual assault against children after police received reports from the victims that that happened over a span of several years.

On Monday, Ogden City Police Department said an officer took Schmitt to its police station where the suspect immediately requested a lawyer and police asked no further questions about the three cases. Schmitt was arrested on suspicion of forcible sexual abuse on two separate victims, rape of a child and sodomy on a child.

By policy, KSL does not name the victims of sex crimes.

REPORT 1

In June of 2019 the guardians of a teen whose mother had passed away were looking at her phone and discovered a text message that said she had sex “when I was little,” according to probable cause documents filed in 2nd District Court in Ogden. The adults asked the victim about the message, causing her to start crying and then she said the event happened when she was approximately 9.

She was interviewed at the Children’s Justice Center on Aug. 8, 2019 where she said when she was younger she was watching a movie on a downstairs couch when Schmitt pulled her pants down and penetrated her. The teen reported blood in the toilet after the assault.

On June 1, 2020, police responded to Schmitt’s residence and asked him about the specific incident and he said he didn’t remember the girl. The officer explained what the victim said happened and said there was no way she was making up the events, causing Schmitt to cry. Police told him the incident happened downstairs during TV watching or during a movie and he responded by saying he had a horrible memory because of an infection in his teeth.

REPORT 2

A 15-year-old teen girl that was acquainted with Schmitt reported abuse in March 2018. A forensic interview was conducted the Children’s Justice Center where the first victim said Schmitt asked her, “What are you willing to do?”

She told interviewers she thought he was talking about using marijuana and was taken into a basement of his home. There they each smoked and she was “out of it kinda” then “he touched me.” She said he touched her under her clothes and used his mouth on her and they then went outside when he allegedly told the girl he would make love with her anytime.

REPORT 3

In 2021 the third victim reported sex abuse to her therapist that had happened nine or 10 years before when Schmitt, a family friend, abused her when she was approximately 6 or 7. The teen victim didn’t want to say the perpetrator’s name out loud but said his first name started with a “J” and his last name an “S.” She also provided the name of other people in the accused’s family to help identify him and told police to ask her therapist for the name.

She told investigators that she was vaginally raped at the accused’s residence in Ogden and said it was painful and that “it felt like something was trying to rip her skin apart.” The victim also said she was shown pornography sometimes and said she was was forced to participate in sodomy.

The victim provided “a very detailed description of the residence.” On Sept. 22, 2021, investigators went to the residence and made contact with a woman who had been Schmitt’s girlfriend. She allowed investigators into the residence where they were able to confirm the victim’s descriptions of it. The woman at the Ogden dwelling said the two had broken up and she was living at the residence alone after he started using drugs.

In court documents police said there is substantial evidence to support the charges and that Schmitt was a substantial danger to any other individuals and requested he not be released on bail.

“Jason Schmitt has three separate victims over the course of many years. Based upon the gravity of the disclosures from each victim it is likely that Jason would flee the jurisdiction of the court if released on bail,” police said in the documents.

Sodomy of a child and rape of a child are first-degree felonies. Forcible sexual abuse is a second-degree felony.