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FARMINGTON — Dr. Nathan Clark Ward pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual abuse of a child Thursday, then promptly withdrew that plea after learning how the judge planned to sentence him.
Now the longtime Bountiful gynecologist accused of sexually abusing a girl is headed to trial.
As part of a plea bargain and in exchange for a guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend that Ward serve a prison term of at least 15 years concurrent with a 22-year federal prison sentence he began serving last month from a separate case.
But 2nd District Judge Thomas Kay said the case was too serious for him to follow prosecutors' recommendation.
"I think it's too serious to do this concurrently,” Kay said.
Ward, 56, was ordered last month to serve 262 months in a federal prison in Colorado for streaming video of a girl as he removed her clothing. On Thursday, moments after he pleaded guilty to a state court charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, Ward and his attorney withdrew the plea.
The development prolongs a case that the girl's family believed would reach a final resolution Thursday. She and her mother quickly left the courtroom with other family members after the judge set a pretrial court hearing for Aug. 9.
Ward, who specialized in obstetrics and gynecology and practiced for more than 25 years, was originally charged with 11 felonies accusing him of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl in 2012 in Davis County, according to charging documents. Prosecutors said he had "a position of special trust" to the girl, but did not elaborate.
In exchange for Ward pleading guilty to the one charge, prosecutors had agreed to drop 10 other charges, including sodomy on a child and forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies; plus two counts of forcible sex abuse and six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree felonies.
The charges also say that "between January and September 2016, (Ward) possessed, viewed or shared at least six images of child pornography."
He was suspended from Bountiful's Lakeview Hospital following his first arrest.
Police began investigating in November 2016 when uploads of possible sexually exploitative images of children were detected at the hospital, according to a police affidavit.
Ward first was arrested in 2017 and accused of discussing raping teen girls and describing "desires to rape females and minors," according to the affidavit.
Police later traced an email address that was created in 2002 to Ward. The investigation found IP addresses associated with that account linked to Lakeview and other Utah hospitals, and Ward's home, the report states.
