Registered sex offender arrested after allegedly raping child he babysat

PRESTON — A 53-year-old registered sex offender is facing a new felony charge after a young girl reportedly told her friends that her babysitter had raped her.

Stanley Robin Keller is charged with felony lewd conduct of a child under 16.

Keller is a registered sex offender, according to the Idaho Sex Offender Registry. In 1992, he was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse of a child under 16.

According to court documents, a deputy with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in Preston on April 4 to investigate a report of child sexual abuse.

When they arrived, an adult stated that a group of children were playing on a trampoline when one of the children “broke down and told the (other children) that Keller raped her while she was being babysat,” according to police reports. The documents do not specify the victim’s exact age.

The adult told the deputy that she sat down with the child, who stated that Keller would put her 6-year-old sibling to bed, and then come back and allegedly sexually abuse her. The child said that this happened multiple times.

Deputies spoke to two of the children, who were told about the alleged assault. One of them stated that the group of kids were talking about babysitters, and the victim said that “Stan” had gotten fired from babysitting her because he had raped her.

The girl’s friend told the deputy that the victim said it happened almost every day she was with Keller. The child’s friend then called their mother to report what had been said.

Another child told the deputy that he was about to go to the bathroom when he heard the girl say Keller had raped her. He said he heard one of the other children say that they were going to call the cops.

According to court documents, the deputy then called the Children’s Justice Center in Logan, Utah, and set up a forensic interview for the child a few days later.

During the interview, the girl stated that she and her sibling were babysat by their neighbors, Keller and another woman, and that Keller would sexually assault her when her 6-year-old sibling was asleep. She also stated that she woke up to Keller raping her multiple times.

According to the girl, the woman in the home worked night shifts, so she was often asleep during the day and gone during the night.

The girl told the interviewer that on the day the report was made, she was jumping on the trampoline with her friends, when they asked her why she was being quiet. The girl says she started “hallucinating seeing Stan on top of her, and she screamed out, ‘Stop!'”

According to the girl, her two friends asked what was going on, and she told them that Keller had been raping her. The two friends went to an adult, then to the girl’s mother.

On April 30, deputies went to Keller’s home to speak to him and the woman about the allegations. The two stated that they had been babysitting two little girls about a year prior, but that they had stopped coming over.

The deputy asked if Keller was ever home alone with the girls, and he stated, “Not normally.” The woman stated that Keller was sometimes home alone with the girls, but said they “usually went to the park.”

When asked if anything had happened with the girls when he was alone with them, Keller denied it, and the woman said that if anything had happened, the girls would have told her.

Keller then stated that he “tried not to be alone with the girl” and said he would take them to the park “around people.”

The deputy met with Keller again on May 14. Keller told the deputy that the woman was usually home when the girls were over at his house. He also stated that the victim was difficult, saying she “lied and was a bully.”

He then stated he “did not do anything” and reportedly talked about “going to a jury trial and if he was found guilty that he would go to prison for life,” according to court documents. The deputy then told Keller that the victim had kept an old pair of her underwear and asked him if his DNA would be found on it. Keller said no and stated he “didn’t do anything.”

A warrant for Keller’s arrest was issued on Dec. 23. He was arrested on Dec. 29 and booked into the Cache County, Utah, Jail on a $40,000 bond. He later posted bail and was released on Dec. 31. A no-contact order was issued for the victim, and Keller is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 19. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.

Though Keller has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.