From Deseret News archives:

Plea deal lets sexual abuser avoid prison

He assaulted 2 women he met on sites for LDS singles

Published: Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006 8:28 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
PROVO — A man accused in court documents of sexually abusing two women he met on Web sites for Latter-day Saint singles will avoid prison time under a plea deal finalized Wednesday.

Two cases were pending in 4th District Court against Kent Parkinson, 26, who also will be released from the Utah County Jail as a result of the agreement with government prosecutors.

In all, Parkinson faced five counts of forcible sex abuse, two counts of forcible sodomy, 10 counts of rape and one count of aggravated kidnapping.

Parkinson entered a no-contest plea on Wednesday to all charges and will have those pleas held in abeyance for three years while he completes a series of requirements.

After those three years, if Parkinson is successful, the charges will be dropped and the case dismissed. If not, Parkinson will return to 4th District Court for sentencing and the possibility of consecutive 5-to-life maximum prison sentences.

In the first case, according to prosecutors, Parkinson touched a woman's breasts and genitals against her will during an at-home movie date in October 2004.

The second case began in a similar fashion. Parkinson and a woman met online and organized a rendezvous at an Orem home in December 2005. That's where, the woman said, he raped her repeatedly for 10 hours.

Story continues below
Utah County prosecutor Mariane O'Bryant said the victims OK'd the plea deal.

"Sometimes we make compromises based on the needs of the victims," O'Bryant said. In many cases, the more trauma a victim has suffered, the more difficult it is for him or her to go through the court process, she said.

Debbie Hill, Parkinson's attorney, said she had been discussing a resolution with the prosecutors for several months.

"I'm very hopeful that Kent will do (well)," Hill said. "This gives him a future."

With the agreement, Parkinson can't violate any other laws, excluding minor traffic tickets. He must get a psycho-sexual evaluation and go to sex-offender treatment.

Also, every 90 days, he must also send performance reports to the Utah County Attorney's Office.

Parkinson cannot log onto Internet chat sites and must pay $1,000 in court fees.

With the plea, Parkinson gives up his right to a jury trial, which was scheduled to begin mid-October.


E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

Kent Parkinson

previousnext

Latest comments

That game was amazing! I think this will really help the sport grow in Utah....

Real Champions

Congrats on a great win. Utah as a whole should be proud not just of a major...

Congrats Real Salt Lake! but, they aren't the first major sports team to...

RSL regroups, dominates 2nd half

I told ALL of you how much i liked NED Pure irony his contributions vs x...

RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks

this is to NevadaUTE @ 10:25!!! I love soccer, I love Real and it brought a...

Real Champions

wow!!! amazing. UTAH JAZZ DO SOMETHING!!!

Glenn Beck to enter politics?

So much fear and anger from Beck lovers. You all lost the last election, we...

RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks

This is the most emotion I have had watching a sporting event since my...

Nicky Rimando is my hero! I love that guy. He has had his detractors, but...

Real Champions

Two stars means nothing! We played as a team and it showed! I'm still in...

Advertisements