Utah State Senate candidate facing felony sex abuse charge
Mar 8, 2022, 12:20 PM | Updated: Jun 19, 2022, 9:37 pm
Brandon Beckham (brandonbeckham.com)
(brandonbeckham.com)
UTAH COUNTY – A Republican running for the Utah State Senate is also named as the defendant in a pending criminal sexual abuse case.
Brandon Beckham, 46, filed his declaration of candidacy to represent District 23 on Feb. 28, just days after a second-degree felony charge of forcible sexual abuse was filed against him in Utah County.
Beckham’s campaign website describes him as “a small business owner, an active member of the Utah Valley community, and an elected member of the governing body for the Utah Republican Party.”
According to charging documents, a woman reported a nonconsensual sexual encounter with Beckham to law enforcement in Pleasant Grove in June 2021. The woman described Beckham as a social acquaintance and said while he was in her home to watch a movie, Beckham made repeated sexual advances despite her telling him to stop multiple times.
According to the information document, “In a pretext phone call, [Beckham] admitted to victim that he was ‘wild’ and ‘he had gone too far.’ [Beckham] apologized many times. [Beckham] stated he was just being kinky and didn’t know the victim was ‘that uncomfortable’ with it.”
The criminal case against Beckham was filed on Feb. 25, according to online court records.
Utah County Attorney David Leavitt’s office confirmed Beckham’s identity as the defendant in the criminal case to the KSL Investigators Tuesday.
Tuesday evening, Beckham responded to KSL’s request for comment with an emailed statement saying in part, “I was shocked to learn of the charges that have apparently been leveled against me. I have still not been informed by any legal authority about an actual complaint, but I categorically deny the account of events portrayed in the media.”
Beckham’s statement signaled intent to continue his campaign.
“Given that these alleged events supposedly took place nearly a year ago, I find today’s timing disturbing,” he said, according to the emailed statement. Utah Republicans are gathering for Neighborhood Caucus Night events Tuesday evening. The Democrat caucus will be held later in the month on March 22.
Beckham is running against current Senator Keith Grover, R-Provo.
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