Duchesne man charged with family abuse 'as bad as it gets'

"(The woman) said she grabbed a two-by-four and hit (her husband) with it to get him to stop," court records state. "She said when she did this, he took (the board) from her and beat her with it."

Butterfield interviewed the man for three hours Thursday and said the man corroborated some of the allegations made by his wife. He acknowledged rationing food, the sergeant said, but said it was because "they were poor and the kids were wasteful," and alleged that his wife's alcohol use and poor parenting led to many of the problems in the home.

"He tried to minimize and play the denial game," Butterfield said, "but in the end he recognized that there was violence in his home and that things were completely out of control."

The woman and her children have left Duchesne County and are doing well, according to investigators, considering what allegedly took place in their remote home.

"She's healed up, and the weight of the world is off her shoulders," Butterfield said. "She doesn't even look like the same person that I interviewed a few weeks ago."

The man is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday in 8th District Court for two counts of rape, both first-degree felonies, and one count each of aggravated assault and child abuse, both second-degree felonies. He is being held in the Duchesne County Jail in lieu of $160,000 bail.

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