Man hired as caretaker for disabled girl is charged with abuse

A man who was hired to be a caretaker for a disabled girl was charged Friday with several felony crimes for allegedly sexually abusing the girl.

A man who was hired to be a caretaker for a disabled girl was charged Friday with several felony crimes for allegedly sexually abusing the girl. (Spaxiax, Shutterstock)


Save Story

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A man hired to help care for a disabled girl is now accused of sexually abusing her.

Herbert Calvin Mataele, 55, of Bluffdale, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with two counts of object rape, a first-degree felony; and eight counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

Mataele was hired a year ago to be a caretaker for a 14-year-old girl who functions on the level of a 7- or 8-year-old, according to charging documents. Because of the girl's condition, her mother set up nanny cams around the home to monitor the girl's activities.

In April, the cameras recorded Mataele sexually abusing the girl, the charges state. Police were contacted and reviewed several more videos of alleged abuse.

When questioned by detectives, Mataele claimed he unintentionally touched the girl inappropriately about three to four weeks earlier, but that since then, he continued to do it purposely because he was "physically attracted" to the girl, according to the charges.

Prosecutors have requested that Mataele be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail pending trial.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Pat Reavy, KSLPat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Newsletter Signup

KSL Weather Forecast

KSL Weather Forecast
Play button