Father of The 5 Browns pleads guilty to sexually abusing his daughters

PROVO — The father of The 5 Browns — his face scratched with injuries from a spectacular Monday auto accident — pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing his daughters when they were children.

Keith Brown, 55, appeared very solemn and serious during his appearance. He was just recently released from the hospital where he was treated for injuries from a Monday night accident in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

In a voice barely audible, Brown pleaded guilty to sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony, and two counts of sex abuse of a child, a second-degree felony.

Brown will be sentenced March 31 at 10 a.m. Prosecutors will recommend that he spend 10 years to life in prison.

The charges against him were only filed last week. But police have been working on the case for months, and the resulting charges and Thursday's plea were part of an agreement reached between prosecutors, Brown's attorney and his daughters — Desirae, 32; Deondra, 30; and Melody, 26.

Brown's attorney, Steve Shapiro, said he has been having discussions with prosecutors about the case for past six months.

"Today was the next step in a very long process that Keith has been going through to accept responsibility," Shapiro said. "He's terribly remorseful for what has happened and what he's put his family through."

Shapiro said his client first went to his LDS bishop to confess the abuse. But prosecutor David Sturgill said it was the daughters who first reported the abuse to police.

In a statement released late Thursday, a spokesman for the 5 Brown said the daughters initiated the case against their father. "The women were motivated to approach law enforcement out of concern for the welfare and protection of other young women and girls," Kimball Thomson said.

He said the daughters are "at peace" with the agreement and "relieved and grateful to close this chapter in their lives."

The sodomy charge stemmed from oral sex incidents that occurred between November 1990 and October 1992, according to prosecutors. Since the crimes occurred in the early '90s, Brown can only be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years to life in prison because of the law 20 years ago. If this incident had occurred today, Brown would be facing 25 years to life in prison, Sturgill said.

The other two sexual abuse of a child charges were for fondling incidents between 1990 and 1992 and during 1997 and 1998.