Sex offender's request to drop restitution payments denied by appeals courts

Sex offender's request to drop restitution payments denied by appeals courts

(Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — An appeals court has ruled that a man convicted of sexual crimes against a 14-year-old girl must pay restitution in the case.

The Utah Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Scott Wadsworth, 46, is required to pay $13,000 in lost wages to the now-adult victim he sexually abused in 2003.

According to the court's opinion, Wadsworth pleaded guilty in October 2004 to sexual exploitation of a minor, unlawful sexual activity with a minor, and enticing a minor over the Internet.

Wadsworth met the girl in an online chat room and began sending her pornographic images, then went to her home for a sexual encounter, court documents state.

When he was scheduled to be sentenced in April 2005, Wadsworth fled to Idaho, where police were unable to locate him until he was stopped for a traffic violation four years later, court documents state.


It's everything to me of what has happened when I was 14. I had six years to forget about it, and then all of the sudden it just comes right back up, right in the middle of my life.

–Victim


Wadsworth was ordered in 2010 to pay the victim $6,500 for counseling costs and $13,000 in lost wages, incurred when the woman's depression, inability to sleep and mental health concerns as the case was revisited caused her to miss work and restrict her schedule to only part-time employment.

"It’s everything to me of what has happened when I was 14. I had six years to forget about it, and then all of the sudden it just comes right back up, right in the middle of my life," the woman said.

Wadsworth argued against paying the $13,000 restitution, saying the woman's inability to work was not a direct result of the crimes to which he had pleaded guilty. He did not oppose paying the woman's counseling costs.

In an opinion Tuesday, the Utah Court of Appeals upheld a district court ruling that Wadsworth should be accountable for the lost wages, citing the woman's right to a speedy disposition in the case.

"While several years did pass between the criminal conduct in 2003 and the beginning of victim's decreased work hours in 2009, the four-year separation between Wadsworth's scheduled sentencing and the onset of victim's damages was due entirely to Wadsworth absconding before his original sentencing in 2005," the appeals court ruled.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
McKenzie Romero

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast