Former BYU baseball starter accused of child sexual assault pleads guilty to lesser charge

ST. ANTHONY — A 22-year-old former all-star Blackfoot athlete has pleaded guilty after sexually assaulting a minor.

Candon Dean Dahle initially pleaded not guilty in Fremont County to felony lewd conduct with a child under 16 years old.

But on Friday, Dahle accepted a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to two lesser charges of felony injury to a child, in exchange for the prosecution agreeing to dismiss similar pending charges in Bingham County and to recommend probation at sentencing.

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Both prosecution and defense will be able to argue for an underlying sentence or local jail time at sentencing.

Dahle is expected to appear for sentencing on July 8.

According to court minutes, Dahle admitted the two crimes he pleaded guilty to happened in Fremont County.

Court documents say Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told the court there are “other allegations” that the prosecution has decided not to pursue.

Background

Dahle was arrested on Feb. 7, in Utah County on a juvenile court warrant out of Bingham County for lewd conduct with a child. According to extradition documents, an alleged sexual crime was committed in Bingham County, while Dahle was a juvenile. As it was a juvenile case, the details of the case are sealed.

As part of last week’s plea agreement, the juvenile case will now be dismissed.

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Many of the court documents for the Fremont County case are sealed to the public, but an affidavit of probable cause states Dahle “allegedly sexually assaulted an 11-year-old on or about Jan. 1, 2022.” Court documents also say during the assault, Dahle “did place his hand over the victim’s mouth.”

Dahle was a senior baseball pitcher at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, but is originally from Blackfoot. His athlete information has since been taken off the BYU baseball website.

BYU Media Relations Manager Todd Hollingshead confirmed to EastIdahoNews.com that Dahle is no longer enrolled at BYU. He was first enrolled at BYU in 2024, after transferring from the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.

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