Former Boy Scout leader arrested on 42 felony counts for alleged sexual abuse over 10+ years

CONTENT WARNING: This article contains information about alleged child sexual abuse material. Report child pornography to law enforcement by contacting the ICAC Tip Line at (801) 281-1211 or your local law enforcement agency. Related video above — Efforts by law enforcement to stop AI-generated child sex abuse images.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A former Boy Scout leader from Kearns, Utah, was arrested on more than 40 felony counts related to alleged sexual abuse that took place over more than a decade, according to Unified Police.

Charles Sheldon Bates, 61, was arrested late Thursday night on 42 charges, including 20 counts of sodomy on a child, all first-degree felonies; 10 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, all first-degree felonies; and seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all first-degree felonies; among other charges. The full list of charges is at the bottom of this article.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in Salt Lake County, seven CDs identified as Bates’ were provided to law enforcement officials. On those CDs, officials identified 134 photos of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), also known as child pornography.

Arrest documents included reports of alleged abuse from four male victims, who told officials they were between the ages of 11 and 17 at the time of the abuse. Two victims reported that Bates was their Boy Scout leader at the time of their abuse.

One of the victims was identified as being in photos on one of Bates’ CDs, and told officials that he was 11 years old when the alleged abuse occurred in 2006. Another victim told police he was abused from 2007 until 2013, from the ages of 11 to 17. This victim identified himself in photos on Bates’ CDs.

The third victim was about 13 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, between 2007 and 2008, and reported that he would be at Bates’ house “under the guise of working on and earning merit badges for the Boy Scouts,” according to arrest documents.

The fourth victim reported abuse between 2019 and 2020, when he was about 13 to 14 years old. All the victims reported that the incidents happened in several different places, including Bates’ prior home, his vehicle, or the family bathroom at a community pool.

Bates was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on the following charges:

• Twenty counts of sodomy on a child, all first-degree felonies;
• Ten counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, all first-degree felonies;
• Seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all first-degree felonies
• Four counts of sodomy/forcible sodomy, all first-degree felonies;
• One count of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.