Idaho Falls man accused of raping 15-year-old
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IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls man, charged with raping a local teen appeared in court on Monday.
Kalin Christensen, 21, is facing one charge of rape where the victim is three or more years younger than the perpetrator.
In October 2017, police received a referral from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare about a 15-year-old teenage girl who had reported to her Mormon bishop that she had been sexually active with multiple adults.
Of the seven adult encounters reported, most of the men were 18-years-old when the victim was 16-years-old and were not in violation of the law. However, two of the encounters occurred when the victim was 15-years-old. Those two encounters, one with Christensen who was 20 at the time, and the other with an 18-year-old Jefferson County man, were in violation of the law. According to the Idaho Repository, that 18-year-old has not been arrested or charged.
The encounter with Christensen was most concerning to the victim’s parents because the victim alleges the incident was also violent.
Court documents show Christensen was known to the family and had recently returned from a Mormon mission when the alleged incident took place. Christensen had been visiting the victim’s family when he and the victim chose to go get ice cream, but instead drove up to Iona Hill.
The victim told investigators Christensen parked the car and allegedly started kissing and touching her inappropriately. She told him she did not want him to do that because she was in a relationship.
According to documents, the victim said she repeatedly told Christensen to stop and that she felt uncomfortable, but eventually “just gave in.” She alleges she tried to stop having sex mid-encounter, but Christensen physically forced her to perform oral sex.
Christensen denies the allegations. He said it was the victim’s idea to go to the hill and she was the one that started kissing him. He said she told him she liked him and wanted to have sex with him.
Christensen told investigators he was the one who stopped the sex mid-encounter, because he felt guilty because he was a recently returned missionary. He admitted to having sex with the teen; however, he denied ever being forceful with the victim or making her perform oral sex.
Documents say Christensen was aware of the victim’s age.
Christensen is scheduled to appear in court on May 7 for a status conference.
CLARIFICATION: New information became available after this story was published on Tuesday. The scheduled jury trial was vacated and replaced with a status conference. This article has been updated accordingly.