If Sharon Kapp renews her bid for a reduced child sexual abuse sentence, her angry daughter says she will testify for the prosecution.
Shellie Van Drimmelen, 18, disputes claims made by Kapp in an unsuccessful bid earlier this month to persuade 2nd District Court Judge Michael Glasmann to allow withdrawal of her guilty pleas.In February 1992, Kapp received a minimum mandatory 10-year sentence for first-degree felony child sodomy. She was given concurrent prison terms for attempted aggravated child sexual abuse, sexual child abuse and dealing in materials harmful to minors.
Kapp contends she pleaded guilty to child abuse charges while still under the influence of Arvin Shreeve, the leader of a north Ogden sect. Further, the 38-year-old woman says she did not commit some of the crimes she was accused of by prosecutors.
Kapp's attorney, Jim Bradshaw, said his client now is seeking a hearing to challenge her incarceration.
Not only does Kapp deny having sodomized children, but Bradshaw insists there is no evidence of such an act contained in any of the investigatory reports.
Bradshaw also said the attempted aggravated sexual abuse count was incorrectly charged by prosecutors.
But Van Drimmelen, who lived in Shreeve's sect for 21/2 years, said Kapp did sexually abuse her and other children.
"You shouldn't be able to change a plea if you've really done those things," she told the Standard-Examiner. "My mother has to take responsibility for what she did . . . and accept the consequences of her actions."
Bradshaw said Kapp, identified by prosecutors as Shreeve's lieutenant, does admit and accept responsibility for those crimes she actually committed.
"What she did is terribly wrong," he said. "She feels terribly remorseful . . . and accepts responsibility" for her actions.
Now married and a mother, Van Drimmelen said she still has difficulty coping with years of sexual trauma inflicted by her mother and Shreeve. The sect leader is serving a minimum mandatory 20-year prison term.
"She only wants to stay in there five years, but she's already ruined eight years of my life - plus I still have to go on with all this abuse that happened to me," she said. "I still freak out about it once in awhile . . . when everything still floods in."
But Bradshaw believes Kapp's sentence is overly harsh.
"She will be in there longer than some murderers," he said.
Van Drimmelen's father and Kapp's former husband, Ron Van Drimmelen, said he also has notified Kapp's attorney that he and his daughter plan to fight any effort to reduce the sentence.