Police investigate teens accused of sexual misconduct

ROY — Police in Roy are investigating three 15-year-old boys accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old girl and videotaping it.

Roy police Sgt. Mike Elliot said investigators have seen the tape and interviewed the victim. The victim said she was raped, but after viewing the tape, Elliot said it appeared all parties consented.

"It is under investigation," he said.

But even if the alleged sexual acts were consensual, 15-year-olds cannot legally consent to such activity under Utah law.

The alleged incident happened Aug. 3 when a resident called police just after 11 p.m. about a girl who appeared to be in an intoxicated state outside his house. By the time officers arrived the girl told others that she had been raped by three boys and that the incident was videotaped and the tape was sitting in a backpack next to her, Elliot said.

The girl was transported to the hospital to be checked out, he said.

As of Monday there had been no arrests. Elliot said possible charges would be screened by the county attorney's office. Police were still waiting to interview the three boys as of Monday.

The alleged assault happened in a bedroom in one of the boy's homes near 5000 South and 3000 West in Roy, Elliot said. He was not sure Monday if any adults were in the house at the time. It appeared that the three boys and the girl were acquaintances, he said.

The case was a little more difficult than others to investigate because of the ages of all involved, Elliot said.

In a similar case in April, two former members of the Tooele High School baseball team pleaded guilty to dealing in harmful materials to a minor after they and four juvenile teammates were accused of being involved in sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old girl and videotaping the incident during a team trip to St. George for a tournament.

Other members of the baseball team were invited to watch the videotape the next day, according to court records. Elliot said in the Roy case there was no evidence of the tape being distributed or shown to anyone else.

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