WEST JORDAN — A man arrested Saturday for allegedly abusing a 5-year-old boy in a library restroom was charged with a similar incident nearly two years ago.

But in the previous case, Troy Michael Sickler, 26, was found to be incompetent to stand trial and a judge determined that he would never be competent for trial because he has an extremely low mental capacity. That charge was ultimately dismissed.

Defense attorney Greg Skordas, who once worked as head of the sex crimes unit at the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, says he understands why people might believe this is a case of the "system" failing.

"At the time, it was a first offense, he was a 24-year-old offender, it was a misdemeanor, and the system doesn’t typically take that person and put them in a hospital setting for the rest of their lives," he said.

Skordas is not representing Sickler, nor did he represent him in the 2015 case.

In April of 2015, Sickler crawled under a bathroom stall at the Salt Lake County Library in West Valley City, 2880 W. 3650 South, exposed himself to a 7-year-old boy and asked him to perform a sex act, according to charging documents.

He was charged in 3rd District Court with lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.

Doctors who conducted a mental competency evaluation on Sickler found that he had an IQ of 57.

A psychological evaluation indicated that he wasn't competent to go to trial, would be unable to assist his own defense and didn't understand court proceedings. A doctor reported that there was no treatment to improve his intellectual disability and could not likely be restored to competency, court documents state.

Third District Judge Katie Bernards-Goodman agreed with the findings and determined Sickler was incompetent and unrestorable.

"The court finds that the defendant cannot fully appreciate the significance of his charges, cannot say the name of his charges, and does not know the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony," she wrote. "The court finds that the defendant’s IQ is too low for him to engage in reasoned choice of legal strategies."

Furthermore, the judge ruled that Sickler would likely incriminate himself if called to the stand to testify.

The state filed a motion for the case to be dismissed soon after.

On Jan. 25, West Jordan police believe Sicker followed a 5-year-old boy into a restroom at the West Jordan Library, 8030 S. 1825 West, and abused him. Library workers told police they had seen Sickler hanging out at the library frequently, similar to the case in 2015 when "the library staff identified him as a male that comes to the library almost daily," according to court records.

Sickler was arrested Saturday and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of sex abuse of a child and child kidnapping. No charges have been filed against him.

When a person is found to be incompetent to stand trial, a court will then look at whether that person is also a threat to the community. The defendant could then be sent to the Utah State Hospital and ordered to stay there until they are either restored to competency or until they are determined to no longer be a public safety risk.

Skordas says in Sickler's case, his arrest in 2015 was his first, he was facing a misdemeanor offense, and there was no indication he would repeat his crime.

"You wouldn’t have expected there to be hospitalization or something like that. But with the new offense, if it’s decided that he’s a continued risk and something has now happened a second time, he’s likely to be sent to the hospital and be there a very long time,” he said.

Salt Lake County deputy district attorney Jeff Hall said Sunday that he was unable to specifically address why that case was dismissed. But he noted that cases like this aren't unique, and there is a structured process to deal with those who are found incompetent and unrestorable.

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The district attorney's office cannot criminally prosecute someone if they are not competent, Hall said. But a judge can order that a person be civilly committed to the state hospital and be held in a secure setting until they are no longer a danger.

The hard part, he said, is finding that balancing act between public safety and resources available.

"We don't have a crystal ball to determine who is going to be a danger to themselves or others in the future," he said.

It is not as common when the courts get a case of a person who is not competent, not restorable, but also determined not be a risk to reoffend, Hall said.

But having too low of an IQ to stand trial does not give that person a free pass to continue committing crimes, he said.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Sunday, speaking in general terms and not about any particular case, that Utah needs to come up with a better model for dealing with the small subset of those who commit certain violent crimes but are incompetent and unrestorable. Gill would like to see the state come up with a way to better supervise those who may pose a risk to the community. Part of that includes more money from the state being put into the Utah State Hospital, he said.

"It's not an acceptable solution to have these people cycle through the system," he said.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office is facing a similar situation in the case of Alicia Englert, who is charged with leaving her newborn baby in a neighbor's garbage can.

Englert is charged with attempted murder, a first-degree felony. But she consistently scores a 65 on her IQ tests, according to evaluators. Third District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills recently ruled that Englert is still not competent for trial and not restorable. Prosecutors are expected to file motions, however, requesting additional efforts be attempted to restore competency.

In another case, De-Kieu Duy, a woman accused of shooting and killing Anne Sleater in the Triad Center and firing additional shots in the lobby of KSL-TV in 1999, was determined to be incompetent for trial several times and was committed to the Utah State Hospital in 2005.

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