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UPDATE: On July 19, 2011 the Utah County Prosecution dismissed the charges in the case against Keith Kuder. - - - - - -
OREM -- Orem police have arrested a 25-year-old man who is accused of using a chat room to lure a 17-year-old girl for sex.
Keith Kuder faces two counts of rape after the girl told police his actions were against her will. In the first instance, he's also accused of getting her drunk.
Police call it yet another example of the need to be extra careful when meeting someone in person that you've only chatted with on the Internet.
"When you are talking online and you don't know the person, especially when you decide to meet them, you never know who you are going to run into and what type of person they are," Orem police Sgt. Craig Martinez said.
Police say the first time Kuder and the 17-year-old girl met, Kuder took her to his Orem apartment. He is accused of providing her alcohol and then raping her.
The second instance allegedly happened a few days later, when the girl returned with Kuder to pick up some of her personal items.
"After the first meeting, she had some belongings of hers left at the apartment," Martinez explained. "They were talking on the phone and texting back and forth and things to make arrangements to get her stuff from his apartment. He picked her up, went back to the apartment, and it's alleged it happened again."
Court documents state that after Kuder fell asleep, the girl used his computer to chat with one of Kuder's friends, telling them she had been raped. That friend picked her up and took her to the police station.
Kuder is known as someone who frequents Republican functions and uses social media to blog about conservative issues. The Utah County Republican Party says he made an unsuccessful run to be the party's secretary last year.
When Kuder was questioned by police, detectives say he asked for an attorney. He posted $1,500 bond and is out of jail.
Formal charges against Kuder are still pending.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
