At one point Stevens told the victim "she was his and it was time she started acting like a wife," Lamb told jurors.

"All of the witnesses who lived on that property knew what Dale was up to," the prosecutor said.

The victim, now 13, testified that she told Stevens several times that she wanted him to leave. One time, the girl blocked the door with a chair to try to prevent him from entering. Lamb praised the girl for having the courage to testify against Stevens, whom he said still holds a strong grip on her family.

Stevens, who claims to be the leader of a tribe that was declared a sham earlier this year by a federal judge, gave the girl's family a place to stay on his property and supplied them with wood in the winter and food.

The girl's own mother was described as a "reluctant witness,"by prosecutors. Law enforcement found out about Stevens' behavior with the girl when they went to investigate an unrelated incident at his Uintah County ranch, Lamb said.

"Luckily for (the victim) she is a strong little girl,"he said. "If she wanted to make up a story (about what happened) she could have added a lot to it, but she didn't."

Stevens is free on bond pending sentencing on Dec. 9. He faces up to 15 years in prison for the burglary conviction and up to one year in jail for the attempted lewdness charge.

Stevens is also facing charges of obstruction of justice, sexual exploitation of a minor, and forgery in a separate case. Prosecutors allege Stevens aided a convicted sex offender in his flight from authorities in Iowa and that he had images of child pornography on his computer.

A preliminary hearing in the second case is scheduled for Dec. 17.

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E-mail: lezleerwhiting@hotmail.com