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SALT LAKE CITY — A West Valley man who police say has previously worked as a Boy Scout camp counselor admitted in 3rd District Court to sexual abuse of three different boys.
Chandler James Bartell, 25, pleaded guilty on Aug. 18 to two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and one count of sodomy of a child, all first-degree felonies.
The crimes occurred in 2016 and 2018, Bartell said in a statement supporting his guilty plea. He said the boys were between the ages of 10 and 13 at the time of the abuse and he held a position "of special trust" with each of the three children.
In a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to dismiss 18 additional felony counts in the same case, including 11 additional counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and five additional counts of sodomy of a child, all first-degree felonies; and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
Charging documents filed against Bartell in July 2021 allege the abuse happened repeatedly; each boy reported multiple instances of sexual abuse.
One of the boys reported almost daily abuse for multiple years and said he did not report the abuse because he worried about what Bartell would do to his family; he said Bartell had anger issues and had kicked walls with steel-toed boots and abused a dog.
"The evidence suggests that the defendant has a lengthy history of sexually abusing young boys," charging documents say.
The documents say there were also allegations of sexual misconduct by Bartell with boys at a Boy Scout camp where he worked as a counselor, but no charges stemming from those allegations have been filed against Bartell.
Bartell will be sentenced on Nov. 6.
