Bail denied for man accused of abusing 2 boys; investigation of 3rd victim underway

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OGDEN — Bail was denied Wednesday for a Murray man accused of sexually abusing two young boys he lured to his house, and police revealed during the hearing that they are investigating allegations of a third victim.

Arguing to keep 37-year-old Weston Ray Kubbe behind bars as he faces the charges of abusing a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old, prosecutor Chris Shaw said the man poses a greater danger than even someone accused of violent crimes or murder.

"These crimes are of such a serious nature that no one should risk it happening again," Shaw told the judge. "We have parents here in the audience. They are scared to death for their children."

Kubbe's attorney, James Retallick, argued that his client could be safely supervised if he were allowed to post bail and be released with an ankle monitor to live with his mother, but 2nd District Court Judge Michael DiReda said he was troubled by the "mental and emotional manipulation" Kubbe allegedly used to gain the boys' trust.

"We're talking about an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old, clearly young men incapable of making the kinds of decisions the defendant was prodding them, encouraging them, luring them to make," DiReda said.

The judge also expressed concern that Kubbe's young victims might try seeking him out if he were released, and there would be little to stop him from contacting other children.

Kubbe is in custody in the Weber County Jail.

He is charged in the case related to the 11-year-old with two counts of child kidnapping, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, and one count of sodomy of a child, all first-degree felonies. He is also charged with one count of enticing a minor by internet or text, a second-degree felony.

In the case connected to the 14-year-old, Kubbe faces two counts of kidnapping, a second-degree felony; two counts of permitting a child to be exposed to controlled substances, a third-degree felony; and four counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony.

South Ogden police detective Brian Schultz said investigators are looking into allegations connected to a 12-year-old, which they learned about after an Amber Alert was issued in the search for the 11-year-old. Schultz also alluded to investigations underway by other law enforcement agencies after they, too, received calls.

According to Schultz, the 11-year-old's relationship with his parents was strained after the boy told them he was gay, and Kubbe preyed upon his unease.

Kubbe convinced the two boys to tell their parents they were visiting friends and instead spend the night with him in his Murray home on the evening of Oct. 8, police said. The 14-year-old told police Kubbe introduced the 11-year-old boy as his boyfriend.

Schultz also said Kubbe provided the boys with alcohol, marijuana and THC-laced gummy bears and jelly beans. Kubbe later claimed he was too drunk and high to remember anything that happened that night, the detective said. He took the boys home the next morning.

Late on the night of Oct. 9, police say Kubbe picked up the 11-year-old and took him to his home again. This time the boy left handwritten notes for his mother and father saying not to worry that he had left, Schultz said, promising he would come back so long as his parents didn't call the police.

The disappearance prompted a frantic search for the boy the next morning and the Amber Alert identifying Kubbe as his possible abductor.

After police made contact with Kubbe at his mother's house, the boy was found about 4 p.m. huddled behind a trash bin near Murray Park where Kubbe had left him with some money to buy food, Schultz said.

In court Wednesday, South Ogden police Randy Thomason read excerpts from 478 pages worth of online conversations between Kubbe and the 11-year-old, including their discussion of the sleepover and Kubbe's instructions for the next time he came to get the child.

Police found the conversations when Facebook granted them emergency access to the boy's account, police said.

In the online chats, frequently punctuated by hearts and flirtation, Kubbe described their night together as "perfect beyond perfect" and detailed his plans to get the boy a laptop and enroll him in school if he came to live with him.

"I want to run away just to be with you," the boy wrote to Kubbe.

"I would totally be just fine with all that," Kubbe responded.

Kubbe and the boy also discussed plans for the child to sneak out during their conversations, according to the transcript, including Kubbe's instructions to look for an opportunity to argue with his parents to create an excuse for him to run away.

In the conversation, Kubbe kept the boy updated on how long it would be until he arrived at the house and instructed him what to write in the notes to his parents, including telling the boy to search through his school bag when he couldn't find a pen.

Kubbe's last messages to the boy told him where he was parked down the street and urged him to shut the door quietly behind him, Thomason said.

Schultz also outlined Kubbe's efforts to avoid detection. A technical support employee for the state of Utah, Kubbe instructed the 11-year-old how to disable his cellphone so it could not be "pinged" by law enforcement, the detective said, and he did the same for his own phones.

Kubbe is scheduled to return to court Nov. 21.