OREM -- A 4th District Court Juvenile judge has suspended his order sending a 15-year-old American Fork boy behind bars for abusing younger children and instead ordered him to get treatment.

The boy has admitted to 13 sex crimes, but American Fork police suspect him of abusing many more boys between the ages of 4 and 17 over the past five years in American Fork, Cedar Hills, Draper, Highland, Lehi and Nephi.The teenager was placed in a residential treatment center outside his hometown of American Fork, said Chris Yannelli, a deputy Utah County attorney.

He will be treated for at least 12 months and possibly for up to three years if he does not do well in counseling, Yannelli said.

Judge Leslie D. Brown had ordered that the youth spend time in secure confinement with the Utah Division of Youth Corrections but then suspended that order to send him for treatment.

Initially, the boy faced 18 charges of sexual abuse in 4th District Juvenile Court. Five charges -- two sodomy charges, two sexual abuse charges and lewdness, a misdemeanor -- were dismissed by the prosecutor, according to court records.

The teen admitted to five charges of aggravated sexual abuse against a child, five charges of sexual abuse against a child and three charges of sodomy against a child, according to an adjudication report filed with juvenile court. All are felonies.

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Some of charges stemmed from accusations that he fondled children younger than 14 while he was baby-sitting, which under Utah law is a "position of trust" warranting the more serious charge of aggravated sexual abuse.

The investigation, one of the largest of its kind in American Fork's history, began Jan. 22 when the parents of the suspect took him to police and he reportedly confessed, police said.

Four of the charges will be dropped or reduced if the teen meets the judge's conditions for 18 months.

Among those conditions is that there be no new allegations, no contact with victims and that he comply with counseling. The boy's parents also must pay for his treatment.

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