VERNAL — An elderly Vernal man who has recently been told to stay away from schools in Uintah County due to his unusual behavior has been arrested and charged in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of a woman with developmental delays.

Keith Bastian, 79, is charged in 8th District Court with forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony. He is also charged in Vernal City Justice Court with two counts of trespassing, both class B misdemeanors.

Bastian has been the subject of numerous calls to police agencies in the Vernal area over the past few weeks because he's been hanging around schools and asking girls to get in his car, according to Uintah County Sheriff's Cpl. Brian Fletcher.

Because Bastian apparently never went beyond asking, Fletcher said all police could do was tell him his behavior was causing people concern and warn him that he would be cited for trespassing if he returned to the schools.

But on Sept. 23, a woman with developmental delays reported that she had been sexually assaulted by a man who convinced her to get in his car. The woman said the man offered to buy her a hamburger if she went for a ride with him.

Once in the car, the woman said the man drove her 20 miles west of Vernal and turned up the road to Paradise Park, then turned down a dirt road and parked the car.

The woman told detectives the man fondled her above and below the waist despite her protests. He also asked her to touch him, the woman said, telling detectives that the man had his pants pulled partially down and had a towel covering his lap.

The woman told investigators the man threatened to abandon her in the remote area if she didn't do what he wanted, Fletcher said.

"She began to be fearful of his ultimate intentions toward her," the corporal said.

When the man started driving again, the woman said she pulled pepper spray from her purse and threatened to use it. Fletcher said the man told the woman he would crash the car if she sprayed him, so she put the pepper spray away.

The man drove to Neola, nearly 30 miles west of Vernal, before turning around and taking the woman back to where he picked her up, Fletcher said. The woman said she never learned the man's name, but told detectives he was elderly, drove a gray car and had a portable oxygen tank in the front seat.

That matched the description police had been given by some of the schoolkids who had been approached by Bastian during the previous weeks, according to Fletcher.

In one of the earlier incidents, the driver of a gray car had offered to buy a juvenile a hamburger if she went for a ride with him, the corporal said. Police also received a previous report that included a license plate number, which came back to a gray Buick registered to Bastian, Fletcher said.

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Siblings Ben Glade and Annaka Vimahi hope to encourage other survivors to talk about their abuse. Both said their psychologist abused them when Glade was 5 years old and Vimahi was 9 years old.

When detectives went to Bastian's house to question him about the alleged sex abuse, they said he wasn't there. They were still at the house, Fletcher said, when another call about an elderly man trying to talk to girls at Vernal Middle School was broadcast by dispatchers.

The person who called in the complaint said the man was driving a gray Buick with an oxygen tank in the front seat. The detectives were walking back to their car to head to the middle school when Bastian pulled into the driveway in a gray Buick, Fletcher said.

An investigator said when Bastian rolled down his window to talk with him, he saw an oxygen tank in the front seat of the car and a towel across Bastian's lap. Bastian told the detectives they could talk in the house, and when he got out of the car, his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped, Fletcher said.

The detectives said Bastian initially denied his involvement in the alleged sexual abuse, but later made statements that corroborated the woman's account of what happened. He told the investigators "he was very lonely," said Fletcher, who noted that Bastian's wife died in early September.

Vernal Assistant Police Chief Keith Campbell said Bastian was cited for trespassing for returning to Vernal Middle School after being told he was no longer allowed to be there. A second trespassing citation was issued because Bastian went to a private residence in Vernal that he'd been told to stay away from, Campbell said.

Bastian remains in the Uintah County Jail. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the forcible sexual abuse charge Monday. An attorney appointed to represent Bastian in Vernal City Justice Court said he could not comment on the trespassing cases Thursday.

Investigators are asking anyone who may have been approached by Bastian but has yet to report it to call dispatch at 435-789-4222.

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