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PROVO — A Provo clinical mental health counselor already facing criminal charges accusing him of sexually assaulting gay men is now accused of molesting a teenage girl.
Scott Dale Owen, 64, of Spanish Fork, was charged Thursday in 4th District Court with aggravated sex abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. He is already facing four counts of forcible sodomy and six counts of object rape, first-degree felonies, in a separate case.
In the new allegations, a woman says she started therapy with Owen in 2007 when she was 13 to help her deal with the death of a parent.
"During the therapy, (Owen) told her religious authority, which he said he had, would help her to feel better. (He) had her sit on his lap telling her the religious authority would pass from him into her and make her not feel sad," according to charging documents.
While sitting on Owen's lap, Owen inappropriately touched the girl, the charges allege.
Owen used to practice at the Canyon Counseling Center in Provo. Prior to Thursday's new charge, police say detectives had interviewed at least a dozen former clients from the past decade who claim they went to Owen seeking "treatment revolving around same-sex attraction" and were sexually abused by him. Owen was one victim's ecclesiastical leader at the time of the alleged abuse and later became a second man's ecclesiastical leader, police say.
Owen was first licensed as a mental health counselor in 1999. In 2016, he was reprimanded by the state for touching a client inappropriately, according to disciplinary records of the Utah Division of Professional Licensing.
"Between 2013 and 2018, (Owen) again inappropriately touched a number of other clients whom (he) was treating," the records state.
In 2018, Owen surrendered his license, but he allegedly continued to have an active role with Canyon Counseling.
Provo police began actively investigating Owen in August. On the day they arranged to have him surrender at the Spanish Fork Police Department, he failed to show up. Police launched a search effort for him, which led to a standoff with Owen, who had a gun, on U.S. 89 near Thistle. Owen was taken into custody without incident following a four-hour standoff.
