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A Utah attorney is calling on a top county police officer to resign for reviving allegations that the lawyer had been involved in a cannibalistic sex trafficking ring that abused children decades ago.
Utah County Attorney David Leavitt denounced the county sheriff for opening an investigation into reports of people “cannibalizing young children” and engaging in “ritualistic” sex trafficking in the county between 1990 and 2010. The county sheriff’s office announced the investigation Tuesday, urging victims to come forward with information.
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Although the press release did not name Leavitt as a subject of investigation, the county attorney said he had read an undated 151-page investigative report that named Leavitt and his wife as suspects. The lawyer accused Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith’s office of using the investigation to score political points as Leavitt eyes reelection in November.
“I am calling upon Sheriff Mike Smith to open his office to an outside investigation where outside, independent investigators are able to investigate and confirm or deny that documents from a debunked investigation from more than a decade ago were or were not used for political purposes in a Utah County Attorney’s race,” Leavitt said.
The allegations stem from a case that was opened two decades ago when a woman accused about 15 people of engaging in a sex trafficking ring. Those claims were made before Leavitt took office in 2018 and were later dismissed because they were not found credible by a special victims unit.
However, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said that a separate investigation opened in April 2021 “confirmed” some allegations of child sexual abuse and trafficking in at least three counties over the span of 20 years.
Smith denied Leavitt’s assertions that the investigation was related to the election and said he would not resign.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“This is not political,” Smith said Wednesday. “This is something we take very, very seriously. This is some of the most egregious crimes that happen in our community when our children are victimized at this level.”
The sheriff did not confirm to reporters whether Leavitt was a named subject of the investigation. However, he emphasized that the county attorney was mischaracterizing the case, only focusing on allegations of cannibalism when the investigation primarily focuses on the sexual abuse of children.
Leavitt and Smith did not respond to requests for comment by the Washington Examiner.
