Ex-BYU student pleads guilty in attack on woman he was assigned to home teach

PROVO — A former BYU student accused of attacking a woman with a stun gun pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault.

Stetson Geo Hallam, 20, had been charged with aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, following an April 6 incident that he claimed was an April Fool's joke, according to a police affidavit filed in 4th District Court.

Charges say Hallam, the victim's home teacher in their LDS Church ward, pressured the 19-year-old woman to meet him so he could "give her a gift." The woman told police Hallam waited outside her Provo apartment for her to return, then asked her to go to a basement laundry room as part of a scavenger hunt.

Once in the room, Hallam attacked her with a Taser-like weapon, pinned her to the ground and tried to handcuff her, the affidavit states. Despite the electric shock, the woman began screaming and fighting back, and at one point bit Hallam's finger. She later told police she thought Hallam was trying to rape her.

After being bitten, Hallam released the woman, apologized, and said it was just an April Fool's joke, the affidavit states. Police found burn marks on the woman's arm from the weapon and a bite mark on Hallam's hand.

Hallam pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies. He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 9 and faces up to 15 years in prison.

— Lana Groves