PLEASANT GROVE — A Bountiful man was arrested Wednesday after police say his ex-girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter complained he raped her repeatedly.
The girl reported that Jason Garner, 38, raped her "every time" he visited her home, first in Lehi and then in Pleasant Grove, from last December to this month, according to an affidavit filed in 4th District Court. She said the incidents always occurred when her mother was downstairs or in the bathroom, and that Garner told her not to tell anyone.
Garner has been a registered sex offender since his 2006 conviction in Farmington for attempted sexual abuse of a child. His latest arrest came less than a week after a 2nd District judge reduced that conviction from a third-degree felony to a class A misdemeanor because Garner had successfully completed three years of probation.
Garner was being held Thursday in Utah County Jail on $30,000 bail for investigation of 20 counts of child rape.
Pleasant Grove Police Capt. Michael Smith said he does not believe the girl's mother knew about Garner's status as a sex offender.
— Paul Koepp