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FARMINGTON — A Payson man recently charged with sexually abusing young neighborhood girls from 1977 to 1989 when he lived in Fruit Heights is seeking to have his charges dismissed, saying he made a deal in the '80s that he wouldn't be prosecuted.
Alan Brower Bassett, 75, was charged in June with nine counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony. Several alleged victims were interviewed, but only the abuse testimony from five victims could be used to charge Bassett due to statutory limitations, court documents state.
At the time, Davis County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Taylor West released a statement saying "detectives with our office put in hundreds of hours in identifying, locating and interviewing victims," after receiving the first report of sexual abuse in August 2020.
"It has been 40 years that some of these victims have sought justice and we're happy to tell these victims that Alan Bassett is off the streets," West said.
But Bassett's attorney filed a motion Saturday to dismiss the case, citing a 35-year-old "nonprosecution agreement" with the Davis County Attorney's Office.
Bassett submitted a draft of an agreement from 1989 sent by former deputy Davis County attorney Brian Namba saying the state of Utah would not file any charges against Bassett "for any of his sexual activities" between February 1978 to the date of the agreement, provided Bassett "meet and disclose his conduct and activities to all of the victims and their parents," pay for all therapy expenses and complete a sexual abuse treatment program, among other stipulations.
No signed version of the agreement was found by either party; however, a separate letter referring to the agreement signed in May 1989 was submitted as evidence of a contract.
The defense argues it is a blanket contract that prevents Davis County from prosecuting Bassett for any sexual activities with minors during that time period.
Two other civil suits against Bassett and his wife have been dismissed to date. One, filed in 1988, was dismissed after the woman who sought emotional damages for Bassett's alleged abuse was "having a difficult time in determining whether continued prosecution is justified by the emotional distress inherent in dealing with the factual basis of her claim."
In court documents related to that suit, the lawyer for the plaintiff wrote that Bassett "entered into an agreement by which the defendant agreed to pay for any counseling incidental to any alleged misconduct by the defendant," but that the woman never requested payment for her counseling.
Bassett's lawyer, in December 1990, wrote in a reply to a request for evidence of the agreement that "no copy of any written agreement exists" outlining covering the counseling costs for the woman. That reply was written after Bassett's current legal team claims he signed a written agreement with the Davis County Attorney's Office in May 1989.
The settlement was not an acceptance of any liability or admission of guilt by Bassett, the court documents say.
In January 2020, a civil case brought against Bassett and his wife by a different woman was dismissed, as the statute of limitations had run out. Court documents from that case detail similar accounts of abuse, claiming the man sexually assaulted a young girl during trips, hikes and visits to his house.
"We remain committed to seeking justice for all victims, regardless of the time that has passed," West said in June, and asked anyone who may have been victimized by Bassett to call detective Derrick Pyles at 801-451-4403.
