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- Charges against 80-year-old Benjamin Henry Rasmussen of Roy were dropped after his death in January.
- Rasmussen faced 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony.
ROY — Charges have been dropped against the 80-year-old man who was accused of sexually abusing a young family friend over the years.
In February 2024, Benjamin Henry Rasmussen, of Roy, was charged in 2nd District Court in Davis County with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. He died in January, leading to the dismissal of the case.
Police say Rasmussen began watching his granddaughter and her friend while their parents worked, starting when the girls were in second grade. The granddaughter told investigators she believed Rasmussen liked her friend better than her, according to a police booking affidavit.
Court documents allege that Rasmussen sexually assaulted his granddaughter's friend in a shared trailer on a camping trip, in the parking lot of a grocery store and elsewhere.
The abuse escalated, with Rasmussen touching the girl and telling her that he loved her, that his granddaughter was her only friend, and that if she told anyone she wouldn't have any friends and her parents would put her up for adoption, the affidavit states.
The girl suffered "severe psychological injury" as a result of the sexual abuse, police said.
A psychologist from the public defender's office met with Rasmussen in June 2024 and reported he "was not able to correctly identify the date, such as the month or year, nor was he an accurate historian regarding remote or present events that have taken place in his life ... he appears to be experiencing neurocognitive decline."
In August 2024, Rasmussen's defense attorney Randall Marshall requested a competency review, after he found the man "difficult to communicate with. He would not track the conversation and seemed to be unable to focus on reality," according to court documents.
After a monthslong review, the court found Rasmussen competent to proceed in September 2024, and a hearing was scheduled for January 2025. Rasmussen died Jan. 11, and the case was dismissed Jan. 31.
