Sex offender wouldn’t let woman leave her house, police say

Sex offender wouldn’t let woman leave her house, police say

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TAYLORSVILLE — A registered sex offender who has been exposing himself to a woman renting a room from him was arrested over the weekend after refusing to let the woman leave the house, police say.

David Michael Atherley, 54, was arrested Saturday for investigation of lewdness by a sex offender, assault, threat of violence and unlawful detention.

The investigation began when a man flagged down a Unified police officer who said he was on the phone with his girlfriend “who is being held against her will inside the residence where she lives,” according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.

“The officer can hear the female crying on the phone and also hears a male suspect screaming loudly in the background,” the report states.

Officers arrived at the house, near 2300 West and 4600 South, and called Atherley outside. They then found the woman who told police “that over the course of the last two days, the male suspect (the homeowner from whom she rents a room) has exposed his genitals to her,” and sent her unsolicited videos of himself performing sex acts, according to the report.

“The victim tells the officer the suspect has repeatedly asked her to engage in sexual acts with him and when she refuses, he becomes angry and screams at her. The victim indicates that today the suspect would not leave her alone and rushed towards her in a threatening manner, causing her to retreat into her room and close the door. The suspect pounded on the door screaming threats at her,” the report states.

According to court records, Atherley was convicted of lewdness in 2004, 2005, 2006, three times in 2008 and also of lewdness involving a child in 2008. He was also convicted of public indecency in one case and obscene acts in another in 1999, court records state.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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