Man sentenced to prison after raping 13-year-old and threatening her family
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MALAD — A 21-year-old man was sentenced to prison Wednesday after admitting to raping a minor.
District Judge Robert Naftz sentenced Joseph Gunderson to a minimum of four years and a maximum of 14 years in prison.
Gunderson was initially charged in three cases in Oneida County, one including two felonies for rape and two counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16. Another case had two more counts of felony lewd conduct with a child under 16, and in a third case, he was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery.
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Under a plea agreement, Gunderson pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16 in the first and second cases. In exchange, the prosecution agreed to dismiss the remaining charges and not recommend a sentence of more than four to 12 years in prison at sentencing.
Details
On Aug. 27, an Oneida County Sheriff’s detective responded to Malad Middle School for a report that a 20-year-old man was asking two children for naked photos, according to police reports.
The detective spoke with a 13-year-old victim, who said Gunderson added her on Snapchat in April.
Gunderson allegedly picked up the victim, drove her “to the middle of nowhere” and began sexually assaulting her.
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The victim says he then drove her to his house, where he said they would watch a movie. When they arrived, Gunderson reportedly led her to the basement, where he raped her. Afterward, the victim says she went home and didn’t tell anyone because she was scared.
The victim says Gunderson once told her he wanted to shower with her. She backed herself into a corner in his bedroom and he allegedly “drug her down the stairs and into (the) basement into the bathroom and forced her to shower with him,” according to court documents.
Police reports say the victim was raped multiple times between April and June when she stopped communicating with him. Gunderson continued to try and contact her at the end of July and again in the last week of August.
The victim told the detective that Gunderson was also talking to her 13-year-old friend and asked the friend to do sexual acts with him.
This victim said she felt “threatened and forced” by Gunderson to hang out with him and do inappropriate things because he said he would “do something to her sister or dad” if she did not send him sexual photos.
According to police reports, Gunderson threatened to kill the victim’s dad if she did not “hang out with him.”
The victim says she told a teacher, who reported the alleged sexual assault to a school counselor.