PROVO -- After hearing statements from prosecutors that former kids club operator Arvid Oakley has a history of abusing children, a 4th District judge Tuesday sentenced the Springville man to the maximum prison sentence he could.
Oakley, 55, got the mandatory sentence of five years to life for sexually abusing a 4-year-old neighbor girl. He was found guilty by a jury in September of the first-degree felony.Prosecutors accused him of setting up a free day care, Superkids of America Inc. in Springville, as a ruse to create opportunities to see young girls naked and touch them.
Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson said the charges against Oakley were "just the tip of the iceberg." Bryson said Oakley admitted in his presentence report that he has abused several young girls in different manners. But his statement doesn't agree with how the girls say he abused them.
"He has abused so many children that he can't keep his victims straight," Bryson said.
Bryson said during Oakley's trial, his office would get calls from other women and parents of girls who said they were abused by Oakley.
A 41-year-old Florida woman testified Oakley had abused her multiple times, when she was 6 and while Oakley was serving as a LDS missionary in Uruguay 35 years ago.
Under Superkids, Oakley took children camping, bowling, swimming and roller skating and frequently invited them to sleepovers at his home. The young victim told a social worker that he fondled her after a bath.
Judge Anthony Schofield also ordered Oakley to participate in a sexual offender rehabilitation program at the prison and pay for any counseling the young victim needs.
Defense attorney Victor Lawrence had asked the judge to put Oakley on probation. Schofield denied that, saying that one of the requirements for probation is that Oakley admit he committed the crime.
"This is trial by ambush," Lawrence said.
But Oakley hasn't admitted the crime, either at the trial or when he made his remarks in court Tuesday.
"If I took enough time to refute all the lies that have been perpetrated against me, it would take three hours," Oakley said. "The very jaws of hell have opened today."
He accused state and county investigators of misusing their power. Oakley also accused the victim and her family of lying.
"I'll probably burn in hell for my transgression, but a lot of people in this room will be there with me," Oakley said. "They could probably go to prison themselves."
Oakley's friends and family portrayed Oakley as a man who loved children but never abused them or even behaved inappropriately toward them.
"He just loved children and wanted to spend his money to help him," said Glen Lowder.
Lowder said because Oakley is a single man who wanted to be near children, he has been unfairly branded as a child abuser.
The family of the victim said Oakley gained children's trust by giving them toys and other things their parents couldn't afford and then selfishly used them to gratify himself.
"You have sentenced my child to a lifetime of problem marriages, insecurities and a lifetime of counseling," one said.
The three family members who spoke at Tuesday's hearing said they were glad that Oakley would not be able to abuse more children.
"He has taken advantage of so many people that the numbers are staggering," one said.
Oakley's attorney took exception to the claims of alleged victims not proven in court.