PROVO — A Lehi man who taught American Sign Language at Utah Valley State College and Salt Lake Community College has been formally charged with first-degree felony rape and forcible sodomy and two counts of second-degree felony forcible sex abuse in 4th District Court.
Roger Alan Wilkins, 36, is charged in connection with alleged incidents involving an 18-year-old West Valley woman who was a student at SLCC when she met Wilkins.
Wilkins was scheduled for a bail hearing on Wednesday. The hearing was not needed because Wilkins was released on Feb. 26 after posting a $75,000 bond through a bail bond company.
Wilkins' next scheduled court appearance is a March 10 waiver hearing. Wilkins will have the option of waiving his right to a preliminary hearing.
Police say Wilkins, who was arrested on Feb. 24, developed a relationship with the 18-year-old SLCC student, and they began communicating through e-mail and a phone for the hearing impaired. Both the woman and Wilkins are hearing impaired.
The woman lived with Wilkins, who is a registered sex offender, and his family for about a month. She accuses him of fondling her breasts and genital area on Jan. 5, despite her objections. He also tried to have sex with her four days later, court documents state.
Wilkins had been teaching American Sign Language classes at both SLCC and UVSC on a part-time basis since January 2002. He was dismissed from SLCC and is not currently teaching at UVSC. UVSC officials say Wilkins will be dismissed if convicted.
Wilkins was listed on the Utah Sex Offender Registry in connection with a charge of lewdness involving a child in 1993. In 1994, he was convicted of molesting two boys while he was the director of a summer camp for deaf children, said Utah County prosecutor Donna Kelly. Wilkins put towels around the victims' necks, choked them until they passed out, then molested them, Kelly said.
E-mail: utahcounty@desnews.com