Brigham City Man Charged With Repeatedly Raping Daughter
Brigham City, UT – A Brigham City man, Sergio Guillermo Torres, is accused of demanding sex from his now-teenage daughter, starting when she was 9 years old, as payment in exchange for outings and social engagements.
According to the victim, unnamed in reports, from the age of 9 to 16 she was subjected to repeated rapes – exceeding 50 separate assaults – at the hands of her father.
She was forced to use sexual favors in trade for permission to visit friends and participate in school and church activities, reports The Salt Lake Tribune. As she got older, the frequency of abuse escalated up to three or four times a week.
Whenever she wanted something or wanted to go somewhere, she had to pay with sexual acts.
The 46-year-old man was arrested June 19 and was charged Wednesday with nine counts of rape and one count of sodomy on a child, according to the Standard-Examiner. Torres is being held at the Box Elder County Jail on $200,000 bail.
Under Utah legal statute Title 76 Chapter 5 Section 402, a person commits rape when the actor has sexual intercourse with another person without the victim’s consent.
Rape, under Utah law, is a felony of the first-degree, punishable by a term of imprisonment of no less than five years and, depending upon the circumstances, can hold a life sentence without parole.
Sodomy on a child is also a first-degree felony and can impose similar mandatory jail time along with a $10,000 fine.
While at church camp, the 16-year-old victim revealed the sexual abuse to her friends. However, she asked they keep it a secret. One friend told her parents who told their church bishop. From there, the allegations were reported to the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS).
During interviews with the accuser, police noted that the girl wept and indicated the arrested would tear her family apart and hurt her siblings.
News reports have not disclosed how many siblings she has or if their mother is present in the home, nor have any officially confirmed if her siblings were also subjected to similar abuse.
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