Man pleads guilty to sex abuse

ROOSEVELT — A man who spent nearly a year on the run pleaded guilty Monday to one count of aggravated sex abuse of a child, a first-degree felony.

Duchesne County prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss a second, identical charge against Bill Dwayne Dulen, in exchange for his guilty plea.

Dulen, 42, disappeared on Jan. 5, 2008, after his wife confronted him in a phone call with allegations of child sex abuse. The woman said she found a note from Dulen's 7-year-old victim to her husband in the couple's home that detailed the abuse.

Dulen's abandoned truck was found in a remote area of Uintah County two days after the confrontation with his wife. Several searches of the area turned up footprints that indicated someone left the vehicle's passenger side and walked back to another set of tire tracks. There were no other footprints in the freshly fallen snow.

Dulen was about to be profiled on the TV show "America's Most Wanted" when was arrested in December 2008 following a traffic stop for talking on a cell phone while driving in Albany, Calif. He was extradited to Utah, where he faced state and federal charges.

In June, Dulen pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to production of child pornography for photographing his victim during the abuse. He was sentenced in September to serve 17 1/2 years in federal prison.

Dulen, who is being held in the Duchesne County Jail, will be sentenced in state court on Dec. 14. He faces a mandatory term of six, 10 or 15 years to life in state prison.

— Geoff Liesik