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OREM — An Orem entrepreneur already facing criminal charges in several cases is in trouble again, this time he's accused of sexual misconduct with co-workers and a woman he met at a concert.
Nathanael "Nate" Reid Holzapfel, 43, was charged Thursday in 4th District Court in two cases involving three women in 2021. He was charged in one case with forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony; and in the second case with an identical count of forcible sexual abuse in addition to three counts of lewdness, a class B misdemeanor.
Holzapfel, who gained notoriety on the TV show "Shark Tank" by pitching his belt company Mission Belt — which he is no longer associated with — already faces charges in five cases involving five different women. Before Thursday's charges, he faced a total of five counts of communications fraud, engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, two counts of theft by deception, two counts of forcible sexual abuse, and two counts of theft, all second-degree felonies; and being an unlicensed broker, a third-degree felony.
The Utah County Attorney's Office believes Holzapfel's typical pattern includes meeting women on dating apps — even though he is married — quickly finding out about their financial situations, then targeting "vulnerable" women such as those who recently lost a loved one and were left with insurance money.
The new allegations against Holzapfel accuse him of exposing himself to two women at an undisclosed auto body shop in Orem and inappropriately touching one of the women while making suggestive comments, according to a police booking affidavit. Investigators noted that "Holzapfel was in a position of trust as he had hired each one of these victims and they felt as though he was their direct supervisor." Charging documents allege that the incidents occurred between October and November.
In the other case, Holzapfel is accused of meeting a woman at a concert in July and afterward, going to the woman's bus, where she was living. The charges say that he inappropriately touched the woman and tried to kiss her inside the bus.
The woman asked Holzapfel "if he was trying to kiss her, and (he) responded by saying, 'I am not trying to kiss you, I am going to kiss you.'" When the woman told him she was not going to do that because they had just met, Holzapfel said "that she was about to 'get to know him,'" according to the charges.
Prosecutors are now requesting that Holzapfel be held in jail without bail until his cases are resolved.
