Sentencing has been postponed for a former Wellsville man charged with having unlawful sexual intercourse with a teenage member of a purported polygamist sect in Ogden.
Mark W. Lichfield, 32, pleaded guilty Dec. 23 to the third-degree felony charge filed by the Cache County attorney's office at the request of Weber County Attorney Reed Richards.The sentencing was postponed Monday by 1st District Judge Lanny Gunnell after court-appointed attorney Ted Perry said Lichfield doesn't qualify for a public defender because his income is too high.
Sentencing was rescheduled for Feb. 24.
The complaint filed against Lichfield said the incident was arranged by Sharon Kapp, a "chief assistant" in the Zion Society, a religious sect headed by Arvin Shreeve.
Kapp faces sentencing on Feb. 19 in Ogden on five child sex-abuse and exploitation charges.
Shreeve, 61, who founded the group 10 years ago, is serving a sentence of a minimum of 20 years at the Utah State Prison.
Cache County Sheriff's Detective Kim Cheshire said Lichfield had sex with a 14-year-old female member of the cult sometime between September 1990 and March 1991, after Kapp arranged a rendezvous.
The detective said Lichfield was introduced to Kapp by a woman he met at a Salt Palace lingerie show.
Lichfield, now a resident of North Ogden, was living in Wellsville at the time of the incident.