Utah juvenile services staff member arrested for sexually abusing housed juvenile

CACHE COUNTY, Utah — A man who worked in a Utah juvenile services facility was arrested for frequently sexually abusing one of the facility’s juveniles.

Wesley Kendal Allen, 40, was booked into the Cache County Jail for felony charges of obstruction of justice, forcible sexual abuse, object rape, and sexual exploitation of a minor, according to the arresting documents.

Logan City Police received a report of an adult having sexual activity with a teenage girl, which was directed to the Utah Department of Human Resources Division of Child and Family Services.

Authorities interviewed the girl, who told them that she had a “sexual relationship” with Allen while she was staying at the State of Utah Juvenile Service Facility, according to the affidavit. Allen was a staff member of the facility.

The victim said that Allen would take her to an unmonitored room without video surveillance, where he would ask her for sexual favors. Each time they visited this area, the sexual abuse escalated.

According to the affidavit, video surveillance confirmed these allegations as footage showed the two entering the unmonitored room multiple times between “seventeen seconds and over eight minutes.”

Authorities found a love note from the victim to Allen at his work desk, on a handwritten school assignment with a bracelet. The victim’s mother also found journal entries of the victim talking about Allen and not getting into trouble with the police.

According to the affidavit, the victim told police that Allen loved her, as he spoke about “keeping things on the down low until she turned eighteen,” with promises of getting her a passport and “taking them out of the country to live.” Allen also gave the victim his personal cellphone number so they could keep in contact outside the facility.

Allen told the victim to lie to authorities if there was an investigation between the two.

Authorities uncovered that Allen gave his employers an incorrect age and personal information about his children and marital status, according to the affidavit.

Utah Department of Health and Human Services issued this statement when contacted about the alleged charges toward Allen:

We are aware that one of our employees at the Cache Valley Youth Center in Logan, a facility in the Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services, was arrested on suspicion of various serious crimes.

An important part of our mission is to provide care for and protect youth who are in our facilities. The allegations against this employee are troubling and are completely the opposite of what we are trying to accomplish.

As soon as we became aware of an allegation of inappropriate contact between this employee and a youth, the employee was put on administrative leave and we immediately notified Child Protective Services. We have been fully cooperating with local law enforcement. The employee has since been terminated.

In addition to swift action and accountability for this employee, we are evaluating our policies and procedures to ensure the highest quality of care and safety for those we serve.