HEBER CITY — The case against a Heber City man who currently faces 47 separate charges relating to child sex abuse moved closer to a trial Monday after he decided to waive his right to a preliminary hearing.
Lon Harvey Kennard Sr., 68, the founder of a nonprofit organization for children, entered the courtroom slowly and slightly hunched over. He didn't turn to face those who sat in the packed courtroom and proceeded to stand next to his attorney and affirm that he didn't want the evidence behind all of the charges presented.
Kennard was charged in March with 24 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony; 21 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; one count of forcible sodomy, a second-degree felony; and one count of witness tampering, a third-degree felony. His attorney indicated in court Monday that amended charges will be filed and will include 43 separate counts instead of 47.
A number of witnesses had been called for a hearing that was slated to last all day, but Kennard opted instead to forgo the hearing. His attorney, Ron Yengich, said the decision was primarily motivated by concern for his family.
"He knows his rights, and it is his desire to waive those rights today, in part, because he doesn't want to put his family through this publicly," Yengich said.
Members of that family are not only his alleged victims but also the ones behind his arrest.
The allegations against Kennard came to light on March 6 when a female relative contacted a Wasatch County sheriff's deputy to ask if Kennard was a suspect in a child sex abuse investigation. The woman told the deputy that Kennard's son had shown her videos of Kennard engaging in sexual contact with an underage girl. The son told detectives he had found the videos on an external computer hard drive that his father kept in his locked home office.
Detectives interviewed six women related to Kennard, and each described "individual, personalized accounts of being sexually abused" by Kennard, according to court records. Investigators also believe Kennard sexually abused a seventh victim, who is not related to him, and made videos of the abuse. Court records say the girl is from Ethiopia and is 17 or 18 years old.
Prosecutors believe the sexual abuse outlined in court records began in 1995, around the time Kennard was serving as bishop of his LDS Church ward and one year after he and his wife founded Village of Hope. The nonprofit organization provides "development programs for destitute villages" in Mexico, Central America, Ethiopia and the Caribbean.
The family issued a statement following Kennard's arrest, calling the arrest "devastating" and apologizing to those who were hurt and betrayed by Kennard's actions. Kennard's son, Lon Kennard Jr., said after Monday's hearings that the family has been buoyed by the small community in which they live.
"We really appreciate the support of everybody; there's been a lot of support from the community," he said. "We wish the family didn't have to go through this, but we appreciate the love and support."
Lon Kennard Harvey Sr. will be bound over for trial and has an arraignment scheduled for July 14, at 9 a.m.
e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com