Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MOAB -- A well-known substitute teacher and sports coach in Moab has been arrested and charged with raping two teenage girls.
Trace Wells, 24, was charged in 7th District Court with two counts of rape and two counts of object rape, first-degree felonies; forcible sexual abuse, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of enticing a minor over the Internet, second-degree felonies.
Wells was booked into the Grand County Jail Monday, following a month-long investigation, with bail set at $250,000. He made his initial appearance in court Tuesday.
One rape occurred either on May 24 or May 25, and the other on June 20, according to the charges. Prosecutors say Wells illegally enticed one of his victims, either by the Internet or text messaging, between April 1 and June 30, and the other between May 1 and June 15.
Wells was a former baseball, wrestling and football star at Grand County High School and worked as a substitute teacher at the high school and a student teacher at Grand County Middle School. He also helped coach the high school track team, of which one of his victims was a member, said Grand County Sheriff's Sgt. Kim Neal.
Wells and his family are fairly prominent in the community, according to officials. His father is the coach of the high school's football and wrestling teams. His grandmother is a member of the Grand County Council, Neal said.
"He's known by everyone in the community," he said.
Because of his prominence, the Utah County Sheriff's Office was called to assist in the investigation.
The victims were 15 and 16 years old and both girls whom Wells had known for awhile, Neal said. The child porn charges stem from alleged "sexting" (texting of sexual pictures) of at least one of the victims, he said.
Investigators were unsure Tuesday if there are additional victims.
Court records show Wells filed for divorce from his wife in February.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com
