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SALT LAKE CITY — Criminal charges were filed Monday against a Salt Lake man who prosecutors say told a lesbian woman he would “fix the gay” before raping her.
Adam Quinn Atwood, 34, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping, two counts of rape, forcible sodomy, and three counts of object rape, all first-degree felonies. He is also charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, second-degree felonies. Bail was set at $750,000.
On March 22, a woman went to visit a friend. The friend’s husband, Atwood, was also there, according to charging documents. As the night went on, Atwood and the woman found themselves alone.
Atwood began to sexually assault the woman, at one point asking “if she was sure she didn’t like it and if she (was) sure she wasn’t gay,” the charges state.
The woman tried to leave the house, but Atwood “grabbed her by the back of the neck and forced her back into the house,” the charges states, and then took the woman to the basement where he choked her and again sexually assault her.
Related:
Salt Lake man sexually assaulted lesbian woman, saying he’d ‘fix the gay,’ police say
Police arrested a Salt Lake man who they say sexually assaulted a lesbian woman, telling her he would “fix the gay.”“Atwood told (her) that he would fix the gay,” the charges state.
Atwood is accused of continuing to sexually assault the woman while also physically assaulting her. She later told medical providers that she lost consciousness twice and “couldn’t breathe at all” while being choked, according to the charges.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Monday he did not add hate crime enhancements to the charges because it was not clear if Atwood selected his victim because of her sexual orientation, or if he engaged in the sexual assault first and then learned she was gay during the assault. Furthermore, Gill said most of the charges filed are already first-degree felonies and cannot be enhanced.
However, Gill noted that Atwood’s comments could possibly be used as enhancements at sentencing if he is convicted.
