Woman pleads not guilty to charges of abusing boy

PROVO — A woman accused of sexually abusing a young boy pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the multiple charges against her.

Nicole Bjarnson, 22, faces two first-degree felonies of rape of a child, two counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child, a second-degree felony, and two class A misdemeanors of lewdness.

The 4th District Court case was filed in June, although the alleged abuse happened when Bjarnson was 14 and the child was 7.

The child came forward last October to tell police about the alleged abuse.

According to police reports filed in 4th District Court, the woman would allegedly take off her clothes and tell the child to remove his as well. She would allegedly then perform a sex act.

The woman also told police she would touch the boy in indecent ways while she was giving him a bath, according to police reports.

The alleged abuse occurred when the woman was a minor, but because the boy is coming forward now, she is being charged as an adult.

"It's so rare," said Deputy Utah County Attorney Donna Kelly about female sex crimes. "I don't think people spend a lot of time thinking about it."

Bjarnson's attorney, Lisa Crawford, said she is still working on a legal defense for her client.

"I have a private investigator interviewing witnesses to determine if it should go to trial," Crawford said.

A pretrial conference was set for Oct. 10 at 8:30 a.m.

Bjarnson is being held in the Utah County Jail.

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