The Utah Attorney General's Office kept heaping the allegations on a former nanny Thursday, filing 16 more charges in a growing sex abuse case involving young male victims.
Prosecutors said they have charged David Michael Busby, 27, with 10 counts of sodomy upon a child, a first-degree felony, four class A misdemeanor counts of violating a protective order and two counts of tampering with a witness, a second-degree felony.
The new charges are in addition to 18 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, in the same case. Those initial charges against Busby, filed in February, stem from allegations that he took illicit pictures of a 13-year-old boy he once cared for as a nanny.
"The child has now revealed what has actually occurred," said Assistant Utah Attorney General Paul Amann.
On Tuesday, Busby was charged with sexual abuse in separate case in Davis County.
Prosecutors say Busby wrote disturbing letters to a Salt Lake City couple's children while working for them as a nanny in 2002. The father obtained a protective order against him in 2003. Busby fought it all the way to the Utah Supreme Court, which rejected his claims to a right of free association.
According to court papers filed Thursday in 3rd District Court, Busby went to the teenage victim's home two days after being released from jail. Prosecutors allege Busby let himself in with a key he had and sexually abused the boy again.
In interviews with detectives referenced in the court papers, the victim told detectives he and Busby had sex on many occasions. Busby, the documents said, had also written the victim several letters, one of which makes reference to the protective order filed against Busby in 2003.
"(P)lease Honey, please my Sweet Love, please don't give up on God. I know you have been praying for so long just like I have been, and just as things started looking closer to ending and all our hope and faith was in God to end our suffering and separation, it only got worse," Busby wrote.
Investigators said in a probable cause statement that the victim's mother had signed an affidavit requesting the protective order be dropped. Detectives interviewed the mother and she admitted to allowing Busby to see her son in 2004, while the protective order was in place.
Capt. Chris Ahearn, a member of the Attorney General's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, wrote that she wanted to allow the visitation because the boy had become sick and depressed and a therapist recommended a compromise allowing Busby to see the victim once a week.
"The child's father, who had obtained the protective order, would not approve; nonetheless (the victim's mother) reports she allowed the visits, between January 2004 and April 2004 and that she was there to supervise," Ahearn wrote, adding the father was not told about the visits. Prosecutors said in the letters, Busby tried to vilify the victim's father, who pushed for the protective order.
Court documents said that in April, a juvenile court judge ordered the boy removed from his mother's custody. A few days later, the boy disclosed sexual abuse to a relative.
Investigators said the teenage victim gave them a letter he said Busby had written, instructing him on how to cover up the sexual exploitation crime. In the letter, the boy is urged to tell police he took the illicit pictures of himself.
"We need to get our story consistent," Busby allegedly wrote. "Here is what I've told my attorney Ron (Yengich). He's got a beard and will want to talk to you sometime in the future. The things below you must only discuss with Ron."
On Tuesday, the Utah Attorney General's Office filed a first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child charge in Farmington's 2nd District Court. Busby is accused of sexually abusing a Davis County boy whose family he befriended in 2002.
Prosecutors said the Salt Lake City victim had suggested there may be more victims.
"The child indicated that Busby had been in contact with other children and we knew that from his (Busby's) MySpace account," Amann said.
Busby remained in the Salt Lake County Jail Thursday after a judge revoked his bail. He is scheduled to appear in 3rd District Court on April 17.
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com