Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Charges against former therapist David Hamblin in a Utah County "ritualistic sex abuse" case were dropped again due to evidence issues.
- Prosecutors argue for the option to potentially refile charges as the investigation continues, but the judge hasn't decided on that.
- The investigation involves allegations of ritualistic abuse, with calls to halt it amid claims of false accusations.
AMERICAN FORK — Criminal charges against a former therapist accused in a "ritualistic sex abuse" case in Utah County have been dropped for a second time due to evidence issues.
Fourth District Judge Roger Griffin dismissed the charges last week but said he was still considering whether to dismiss the case against David Hamblin, 70, with or without prejudice. Hamblin's attorney asked for the charges to be dismissed with prejudice so the case could not be filed again.
Prosecutors disagree, according to a legal document in which special assistant attorney general Nathan Evershed argued that dismissing the case would be a discretionary — not a mandatory — decision, so there should be an option to refile it as the investigation continues.
Evershed said the decision to ask to dismiss the case was based primarily on concerns with the evidence but also on discovery problems, referring to evidence and information shared between prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The charges
Hamblin was charged in 2022 after investigators said the former therapist was a threat to children and Utah County's residents.
A woman came forward in April of that year and told investigators that Hamblin started sexually assaulting her in the mid-1980s, when she was 6 or 7, and her family lived in the same Provo neighborhood as Hamblin.
She said she would go to his house, where she and other children were babysat by him, and Hamblin would make her and other children perform sex acts, a police booking affidavit alleges. The affidavit said the other two individuals corroborated the story.
Hamblin's therapist license was revoked after earlier allegations that he was sexually abusing clients, but the affidavit said he continued to use "healing circles" to perform therapy and investigators believed abuse was ongoing.
The dismissed charges against Hamblin include three counts of sodomy on a child and one count of rape of a child, both first-degree felonies, along with two counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony.
The Utah County Sheriff's Office released a statement a few months before charges were filed, saying it was looking for victims of "ritualistic child sexual abuse and child sex trafficking" but at the time did not say who was being investigated.
In 2023, Hamblin's ex-wife Roselle Anderson Stevenson, 72, was charged in a related case with sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony. Her case is ongoing, but recently the Utah County Attorney's Office was removed from the case.
Manti case
The first time Hamblin's Utah County case was dismissed, the judge over his 6th District Court case in Sanpete County said the dismissal had no effect on that case, which stemmed from another investigation and victim.
Hamblin was scheduled for a preliminary hearing last week in the 6th District Court case, where he is charged with six counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony. The day before the hearing, his attorney, Brian Frees, asked to delay it, claiming prosecutors had not sent the complete documents he is entitled to before a preliminary hearing.
In the motion, Frees said Hamblin recently learned from the Utah County case that attorneys with Juab and Utah counties had evidence since 2022 that should have been provided to him but was not until February. He asked the court to require the Utah County Attorney's Office to provide all information it has after a thorough review of any agencies involved in the investigation.
In the Sanpete County case, Hamblin will have a scheduling hearing on March 5.
Should the investigation continue?
The investigation into "ritualistic child sexual abuse" involving Hamblin is still ongoing, but two people involved in the investigation but not charged are asking the Utah Attorney General's Office to stop the investigation and issue a letter saying the allegations are unfounded.
Joseph and Lee Udall Bennion lived close to Hamblin and his wife in Spring City, Sanpete County. Their son-in-law and attorney Caleb Proulx said they were among over 140 people "falsely accused of ritualistic satanic abuse" by Hamblin's daughters.
The investigation also notably includes former Utah County Attorney David Leavitt, who said at a press conference the allegations against him were false.
Proulx said allegations being investigated include hundreds of criminal acts — including not just sexual abuse but murder and cannibalism — by a group of "Satan worshippers." He said the allegations surrounding the satanic group are "categorically false" and "fantastical and unbelievable" based on the number of people allegedly involved and the public location of some of the alleged crimes.
He said in a letter to the state attorney general that the original investigation, which began in 2012, ended with the office issuing a similar letter to the one he is requesting now — saying the office determined there would not be a reasonable likelihood of conviction based on the available evidence.
According to the letter, records released from the initial investigation have led to problems for the Bennions, including harassment, stalking, public threats and vandalism of their pottery shop on multiple occasions. They have taken legal action against two of the people involved and were granted a stalking injunction.
Despite these contacts from members of the public, Proulx said the Bennions have never been contacted for interviews by law enforcement as part of the investigations. He also said Hamblin's attorneys have said law enforcement concluded there is no supporting evidence that there was a "satanic group."
"Despite these indications that there is no credible evidence of this satanic activity after years of investigation, public statements made by law enforcement suggest otherwise," Proulx said.
He cited comments during the investigation from the Utah County Sheriff's Office and Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith, who said this month his office "will not stop pressing forward" in the case.
Proulx said despite promises of more arrests and charges, there have not been any for two years; instead, charges have been dropped. He said there are many, like his clients, who "wait under a cloud of concern and uncertainty" while being subjected to threats and harassment.
"It is time that the attorney general's office do the right thing and correct the record by issuing a declination decision," Proulx said in a statement.
