Kearns man arrested, accused of sexually abusing 4 boys over 20 years
Apr 20, 2025, 12:00 PM
A Kearns man, who police say is a former Boy Scouts leader, has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing at least four boys over the past 20 years. (TheCorgi, Shutterstock)
(TheCorgi, Shutterstock)
KEARNS — A Kearns man was arrested Thursday and accused of sexually abusing four boys over the past 20 years.
Police say they hope additional victims, if any, will come forward.
Charles Shelton Bates, 61, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of 42 felony crimes, including 10 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, 20 counts of sodomy on a child, four counts of forcible sodomy and forcible sexual abuse.
Unified police say the abuse happened at Bates’s Kearns residence and at the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center swimming pool.
“There are numerous victims who have reported abuse from the defendant,” a police booking affidavit states.
Investigators say they seized several CDs belonging to Bates that contained child sex abuse material. A total of 134 photos of child sex abuse material were found, including images of at least two boys who police identified as victims for his arrest. At least one picture was of an 11-year-old boy in 2006, according to the affidavit.
A second boy says he was abused while participating in the Boy Scouts of America between 2007 and 2013. Unified police confirmed that Bates “was a Boy Scouts leader and the abuse began when (the boy) was in Boy Scouts,” the affidavit states.
A third boy says he also met Bates when he was 13 and a member of the Scouts.
“(He) would go to Charles’ house under the guise of working on and earning merit badges for the Boy Scouts, the affidavit alleges. “These incidents (of abuse) occurred in Charles’ bedroom and the community pool family bathroom.”
A fourth boy told police he was abused five or six years ago, when he was between the ages of 13 and 14, according to the arrest report.
“These are extremely serious crimes that have persisted over decades,” police said, while requesting that he be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without the possibility of posting bail.
Unified police say anyone who believes they were victimized by Bates, or who knows someone who was, is asked to call 801-840-4000.
Read the full story at ksl.com
