Salt Lake man gets probation after assaulting woman, entering her apartment

SALT LAKE CITY — A man was sentenced to two years of probation after admitting to pressing his torso against a woman he did not know in the elevator of her apartment complex multiple times, and then entering her apartment without permission and restraining her.

Saquan Smith, 31, was initially charged with forcible sexual abuse, burglary and robbery — all second-degree felonies — plus aggravated kidnapping, a third-degree felony. But under a plea deal, he pleaded guilty to reduced charges including three counts of sexual battery and one count of criminal trespass, class A misdemeanors; and unlawful detention, a class B misdemeanor.

Third District Judge Randall Skanchy sentenced him last week to one year in jail for each of the class A misdemeanors and 180 days in jail for the class B misdemeanor but suspended the jail terms in favor of 24 months of probation.

The woman was approached on Dec. 26, 2022, by Smith, who asked for a cigarette, and she gave him one. Then he followed her and took the keys from her hand, followed her to the elevator, and “forced himself” on her, according to charging documents.

Smith went into her apartment without her, and doorbell camera video shows Smith forcibly removing the woman from her apartment, the charges state.

When he was arrested, police say Smith claimed he knew the woman and that he used her phone “to call his bank so that he could wire her $30,000 of his $90,000 savings, but she got upset so he canceled the transfer.” But investigators say an officer checked the woman’s phone and found the only calls made were to police dispatch and dialing her boyfriend 21 times.

Smith previously served time in federal prison for child human trafficking convictions.