Rigby man charged with raping a 13-year-old boy he allegedly met on Grindr
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IDAHO FALLS — A sex abuse case involving a Rigby man is moving forward nearly three years after the alleged crimes occurred.
Steven Ernst Simcask, 43, faces felony charges of rape, lewd conduct with a child, and enticing a child through the internet for allegations involving a 13-year-old boy in 2023. Court documents say he met the teen on Grindr, a dating app geared toward gay, bisexual, transgender and queer men.
According to a police booking affidavit, it was Aug. 5, 2023, when deputies with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a rape involving the 13-year-old boy. Deputies said the boy’s mother told them she learned of the incident from the mother of one of her son’s friends and confronted him about it.
She told police her son had admitted that he used Grindr and texted a 40-year-old man named Steven Simsack, the affidavit says. The mother said she was unsure how many times or for how long her son had met with the man, but she believed it occurred between July 4 and July 28 of 2023.
Further investigation identified Steven Simsack as a resident of Rigby.
A month later, during a forensic interview at the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center, investigators say the 13-year-old confirmed that he met Simsack on Grindr in early summer, sometime after school was released for the summer break. Shortly after meeting on Grindr, he said the two moved the conversation to Snapchat.
The boy told investigators he met with Simsack approximately five times, including some meetings at Simsack’s home in Rigby. The affidavit says the first time the two met in person, the teen said Simsack took him up to the “mountain place” near some windmills and sexually abused him. He told investigators that the alleged abuse also occurred at Simsack’s home.
The court document says the 13-year-old also told investigators that when he would confront Simsack about the abuse, the man pretended not to know what had happened. He also accused Simsack of guiding him on what to say if police ever became involved.
The boy said that he and Simsack also sent each other explicit photos and videos, according to the document. Investigators say a download of the boy’s phone showed a video that Simsack sent showing a naked man.
A warrant for Simsack’s arrest was obtained in March 2024 and served on April 22 of that year.
In court documents filed by Simsack, he stated that he was incarcerated in Arizona for a case unrelated to Idaho and requested that the Idaho case be dismissed — a request later denied by Magistrate Judge Wiley Dennert. A search of Arizona’s crime repository shows Simsack had pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated DUI in October 2024.
Simsack appeared in person for his initial appearance on April 23 of this year and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. on May 6 before Magistrate Judge John Dewey.
Though Simsack has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty. If he is found guilty, he faces up to life in prison.