Convicted child sex offender facing new charges arrested after KSL Investigation

PROVO, Utah — A convicted sex offender now charged with victimizing another child is back in custody.

Provo police officers arrested Glendell Clark, 39, last month, the day after he was included in a KSL Investigation revealing nearly 200 missing Utah sex offenders.

“I feel like they’re letting him slip through the cracks,” Laura Bronson told KSL Investigators.

Bronson said she’s watched, for years, as the state has failed to keep track of Clark.

“He’s just in and out and in and out,” she said, “And so you’re happy when he goes in, and then you’re shocked when he goes out. And you’re scared. I’m scared.”

Bronson said in 2015, she had a child with Clark before learning he was a sex offender, convicted in 2004 of raping a child in Louisiana. She characterized their relationship as violent and abusive.

“There would be times where I would just tell him, like, ‘I don’t want to be with you,'” she recalled. “And he would choke me and put his hands over my mouth and, you know, put pillows over my face until I would just let him stay. And this abuse cycle would just start over and over and over.”

In 2016, Clark was arrested for aggravated domestic violence assault against Bronson. A plea deal kept him out of prison, but public records show he’s been booked in and out of the Salt Lake County Jail 11 times since 2015.

“When he gets out, you’re like, ‘Okay, well, now he’s going to register,'” she said. “So, though he gets released, you’re like, ‘Well, at least now I’m going to know where he is.’ And then he goes non-compliant.”

Clark was listed as non-compliant on the state’s sex offender registry last month, with his location unknown, when the KSL Investigators reported his new pending charges – two felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

Since his arrest, Clark has also been charged with a felony count of failure to register as a sex offender.

“He has a history of either failing to appear or being combative or interfering with arrest,” prosecutor Tye Christensen noted during Clark’s initial appearance last week.

During the remote court hearing, Benjamin Aldana, Clark’s appointed defense attorney, noted a domestic violence case against Clark involving a child was dismissed last year after he was found incompetent to stand trial.

Now, Aldana said his competency appears to have been restored.

“When I met with him last week, he was coherent. I could have a discussion with him about the case. I could have a discussion with him about his circumstances,” Aldana said.

He urged the court to release Clark again to avoid a similar outcome.

“I’m very concerned that he’s not receiving the very intensive mental health treatment that he needs to continue having at the Utah County Jail,” Aldana said.

Christensen voiced concerns about keeping track of Clark if he were to be released without GPS monitoring.

“We’re battling these concerns of making sure that he remains competent, but also trying to make sure that we minimize any issues for the public or for law enforcement,” he said.

The mother of the victim in the new case – a girl who was ten years old at the time of the reported crime – urged the judge to keep Clark behind bars.

“She needs to get verification that something is being done because she was brave, and she stuck up for herself, and she spoke out,” the mother said.

Fourth District Judge Robert Lund noted that the state filed charges based on the girl’s report.

“I’m sure you can appreciate the fact that under our system of justice, Mr. Clark is presumed innocent of the charges,” Lund said. “He has not stood trial yet. There’s been no finding there.”

Lund set Clark’s bail at $20,000. As of Monday evening, online records indicated he remained in custody in the Utah County Jail.

Bronson isn’t involved in the latest case pending against Clark, but she watched his court hearing online last week, worried and wondering what will happen this time.

“At what point does the responsibility also lay on the Utah justice system for this kid getting potentially or allegedly molested?” she questioned. “I’ve been screaming at the top of my lungs, like, ‘He’s not safe.'”

In July, the KSL Investigators asked Utah’s Department of Corrections, which maintains the state’s sex offender registry, for a history of Clark’s compliance with the registry. That information has not yet been provided.

Utah’s sex offender registry listed 437 offenders – less than five percent of the 9,595 offenders registered – as non-compliant.

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This report is part of a series examining how apparent gaps at every level of Utah’s criminal justice system fail to protect Utahns.

If you have experienced sexual violence, you can access help and resources by calling Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Helpline at 1-888-421-1100. You can also call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for free, confidential counseling.

Have you experienced something you think just isn’t right? The KSL Investigators want to help. Submit your tip at investigates@ksl.com or 385-707-6153 so we can get working for you.