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SALT LAKE CITY — A former rookie police officer accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl waived his preliminary hearing on Thursday in lieu of a plea deal expected to be made official at his next hearing.
Regan Edward Anson, 25, was charged in November in 3rd District Court with five counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony. Prosecutors say he engaged in illegal sexual conduct with the girl between Sept. 26 and Oct. 21, 2015.
While investigating an unrelated sexual assault case, detectives with the Unified Police Department became aware of Anson's case. Less than 48 hours after hearing of the allegations, Anson was arrested at the Salt Lake City International Airport where Salt Lake police officers were waiting for him to arrive home from a trip.
RELATED: UPD officer arrested for alleged sexual relationship with minor
A Unified police officer has been arrested for an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, the department said Thursday.Anson had only been with Unified police for less than a year and was still on probationary status when he was arrested. He was fired from the department shortly after his arrest.
Police believe Anson met the teenager while he was on duty but had sexual contact with her on five occasions while he was off duty.
On Thursday, the first day of a scheduled preliminary hearing, Anson, wearing a white dress shirt with dress pants, waived his right to the hearing. Instead, it was announced that Anson is expected to plead guilty to three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a third-degree felony. In exchange, prosecutors will recommend he receive no prison time.
By pleading guilty to the felony charges, Anson would be placed on the Utah Sex Offender Registry. Also as part of the proposed plea deal, once Anson is off the registry and successfully completes probation, his charges would be reduced to class A misdemeanors. He will be on the registry for a minimum of 10 years, and likely will receive an additional three years of probation.
Anson is expected to plead guilty to the charges on March 18.
