Man admits to raping 13-year-old and threatening her family
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MALAD — A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to raping a 13-year-old and threatening to kill her family.
Joseph Michael Uryan Gunderson was initially charged with three counts of felony rape and one count of lewd conduct with a child under 16.
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As part of a plea agreement, Gunderson agreed to a minimum of five and a maximum of fifteen years in prison. But, the agreement states the court would suspend the sentence and place him on a retained jurisdiction or a rider.
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According to court filings, Gunderson had three active cases. The first alleged misdemeanor sexual battery in November 2023.
The second alleged one count of felony rape and one count of felony lewd conduct with a child in June 2024.
The third alleged three counts of felony rape and one count of felony lewd conduct with a child in July 2024.
Gunderson agreed to plead guilty on April 18 to two amended charges in the second and third cases of felony sexual abuse of a child.
The prosecution agreed to dismiss the first case alleging a misdemeanor, and Gunderson would be required to register as a sex offender.
The agreement also states that Gunderson will have to complete a psycho-sexual evaluation before sentencing.
If the results show that he has a “high risk to re-offend” or if he “admits to having any additional underage victims during his polygraph,” the prosecution will instead recommend an imposed sentence of a minimum of six and a maximum of ten years in prison.
The agreement is binding, meaning Gunderson can change his plea if the judge does not accept the agreement.
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 the victim up and drove her “to the middle of nowhere” and began sexually assaulting her.
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 allegedly “drug her down the stairs and into 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, but 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 stated 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.