Former 4-H leader won't be released for molesting boys

UTAH STATE PRISON — A former leader of Tooele County's 4-H Club will not be released from prison.

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole said it has denied release to Curtis Crittenden, 34, opting instead for a rehearing in 2016. Crittenden pleaded guilty in 2007 to child sex abuse charges for molesting several young boys he had met through his leadership role in 4-H activities.

During his parole hearing last month, the former youth leader confessed to sexually abusing even more young boys.

"He said he had four victims when he was living up in Logan," Jim Hatch, a spokesman for the parole board, said Monday. "It was some time prior to the current victims in Tooele and he said he abused some kids when he was an LDS missionary, too."

Crittendon was sentenced to serve a series of 1-to-15-year sentences, but the parole board can only legally keep him in prison until 2037. Prior to his rehearing, the board said that Crittendon must complete sex offender therapy treatment.

— Ben Winslow