SALT LAKE CITY — A Helper city councilman was formally charged Thursday with entering his neighbor's house uninvited and groping her.
Darren Vaughn Cloward, 49, of Helper, was charged in Carbon County's 7th District Court with forcible sexual abuse and burglary, both second-degree felonies; obstructing justice, a class A misdemeanor; and intoxication, a class C misdemeanor.
A summons was issued to Cloward to appear in court on Aug. 5.
On June 10, one of Cloward's neighbors said he came into her house through her back door uninvited, allegedly to check on his daughter who was playing in her yard. He made suggestive comments about the woman who was in a swimsuit, according to a Carbon County Jail report.
Later, Cloward returned to the house to get his daughter, again entered without being invited, and went into the basement where he allegedly touched the woman's chest "through the bed sheets while she was in her bedroom," the report states.
When questioned by police, Cloward denied going into the basement. Cloward declined to comment when reached by the Deseret News on Tuesday.
The woman filed for a civil stalking injunction against Cloward on June 12, according to court records.
Cloward has been on the Helper City Council since 2018. According to the Helper city recorder on Tuesday, Cloward's status on the council has not changed and is unlikely to change until the case has been adjudicated.