Father faces homicide charge over son's Freon poisoning
A Draper man has been charged in the November death of his 4-year-old son -- an incident originally reported as an accidental drowning but one that investigators now consider a poisoning.Michael J. Bunting, 31, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with child abuse homicide, a second-degree felony, and is being held at the county jail with bail set at $100,000.
On Nov. 6 at 10:55 p.m., Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Rod Norton responded to Bunting's Draper home, 12626 S. 1700 East, after Bunting called 911 and said his son Jeremy had drowned while taking a bath.
Initial reports indicated Bunting had left the bathroom for a moment to answer a telephone call. When he returned, he said, his son was lying face-down in the tub. Bunting told Norton he tried to revive the boy with cardiopulmonary resuscitation but was not successful.
The boy was taken to Alta View Hospital and pronounced dead, court documents state.
An autopsy performed by the state Medical Examiner's Office the next day showed the cause of death was not drowning. Thursday, the medical examiner determined the boy died of Freon intoxication and certified the death was a homicide, court documents state.
Bunting told police that on the day his son died he had used the Freon pump to make bubbles in his son's bath water, court documents state.
If convicted, Bunting could face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
3 transients arrested after kidnapping, car theft, robbery
Three men arrested in a Thursday crime spree that included an attempted kidnapping, carjacking and armed robbery have been charged in 3rd District Court.
All three are transients and are being held in Salt Lake County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
About 7:30 p.m. two of the men allegedly tried to kidnap a woman and her child in an Albertson's parking lot, 1825 W. 4700 South, at gunpoint but were unsuccessful. The pair were able to get keys from the woman and stole her van, charges filed Tuesday state.
Approximately 45 minutes later, the two men entered the La Pinata Market, 5476 S. 4220 West, and robbed two people at gunpoint, the charges say. A third man waited in the stolen van, court documents state.
Police later took three men into custody.
The van driver was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. The two other suspects were charged with three counts of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony.
Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Ex-high school teacher faces another sex abuse charge
LOGAN (AP) -- A former high school teacher from Idaho faces an additional sex abuse charge stemming from his conviction last August for sexually exploiting four teenagers.
Christopher Roy Evans, 29, is currently serving up to 15 years at the Utah State Prison for four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
He was back in court Monday after another alleged victim came forward.
Police in Nampa, Idaho, were contacted in February when a Fred Meyer photo processing lab found explicit pictures of young boys on a roll of film Evans brought in for developing, according to Cache County sheriff's reports.
Evans was teaching high school in Nampa at the time.
Officers then searched Evans' home and found a photo album containing similar photographs, police reports stated. When questioned, Evans reportedly told investigators he had taken the pictures but none of the boys was from Idaho.
The pictures were taken in Cache Valley in 1997 when Evans was a Utah State University student. Cache County Sheriff's investigators identified several of the boys in the photographs.
Evans was charged in May with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He pleaded guilty to all four charges in August.
Following his conviction, another 13-year-old victim came forward. The boy was reportedly able to identify himself in one of the photographs.
Evans has been charged with aggravated sex abuse of a child.
Sandy man faces charges in wreck that killed brother
A Sandy man has been charged with automobile homicide, a second-degree felony, after he allegedly caused a single-car accident that killed his brother and another man.
On Nov. 25, just after midnight, Jose Reyes-Sanchez, 28, was allegedly driving southbound on I-15 near 2300 South when his car ran off the road and rolled. Troopers responding to the accident noticed Sanchez and another passenger were not seriously hurt and were standing near the bodies of Jose Luis Gasco and Luis Phillipe Reyes-Sanchez, who both died in the wreck, charges filed Tuesday in 3rd District Court state.
As troopers and medical personal attended to the victims, Sanchez and the other man hitched a ride in a southbound van. Troopers were able to catch up with the van and brought the two men back to the scene, the charges state.
A blood test showed that Sanchez's blood alcohol level was 0.16, two times the legal limit, court documents state.
Besides automobile homicide, Sanchez was charged with DUI involving an injury accident, a third-degree felony, and failure to stop at the scene of an injury accident, a class A misdemeanor.
Fire destroys half of house, leaving 14 people homeless
OGDEN (AP) -- Fourteen people are homeless after a kitchen fire destroyed half of a small house.
Ogden fire marshal Matt Schwenk said he has traced the Tuesday afternoon fire to a pan of cooking oil on a stove in the kitchen.
He estimated damage at about $50,000 and said the house is probably not repairable.
Red Cross disaster coordinator Ron Carter said 14 people were staying in the small house, which was divided into two apartments.
Gabriella Castro, three children and an adult guest were staying in the half of the house where the fire started, he said. They were not injured but went to a hospital on their own to be checked for smoke inhalation. He said they are staying with friends.
The residents of the other apartment, included Mary Headley, two of her children, three grandchildren and three other guests, he said.
Carter said the Red Cross is helping Headley with housing and is helping both families by providing emergency food and clothing.
The fire was reported at 2:20 p.m. Firefighters had it under control within half an hour.