Booking photo for Jerry Dean Rice (Courtesy: Cache County Jail).

LOGAN — A 51-year-old former Logan man has been ordered to stand trial on charges that he raped a young girl more than eight years ago. Jerry D. Rice is being held in the Cache County Jail since being arrested in November.

Rice was in 1st District Court Thursday morning for a preliminary hearing. He was previously charged with five counts of rape of a child and five counts of sodomy on a child, all first-degree felonies.

Prosecutor’s lead investigator, Logan City police detective Matt Woods told the court how he began investigating Rice last year after the alleged victim reported the sexual abuse to the Department of Child and Family Services. The crimes reportedly happened while the suspect was living with the girl’s family around 2010-2011.

A recorded interview with the victim was also played. The then 13-year-old spoke about how she was 6-years-old when Rice would sneak into her room. He would molest her and rape her. The incidents occurred on a nightly basis.

During the video, the girl told investigators how she remembered being terrified and thought the abuse was her fault. She also claimed that Rice would tell her to “shut up,” when she told him it hurt. She further described how she started wearing extra clothes at night including a belt, to try and detour him.

During the police investigation, officers interviewed Rice. He denied the sexual assaults and then invoked his right to remain silent.

While cross-examining Detective Woods, public defender Ryan Holdaway raised the question that Rice was incarcerated in prison during part of the time prosecutors claim the crimes occurred. Woods answered that the dates were estimations on when the victim was approximately 6-years-old but are not specific.

Judge Angela Fonnesbeck still ruled that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to show a crime may have occurred. She said the decision was based on the testimony of the alleged victim and the medical report. She ordered Rice to be bound over on all of the counts and appear again in court February 10.

Rice pleaded “not guilty” to the charges. He remains in jail on $50,000 bail and could face up to life in prison if convicted.


will@cvradio.com



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