Logan man sentenced to prison for molesting young girls

LOGAN — A judge has refused to follow attorney’s lesser recommendations and instead sentenced a 47-year-old Logan man to 10-years-to-life in prison for molesting four girls during the past 20 years. Judge Brian Cannell told Rand Meyerhoffer that he couldn’t go along with a plea agreement recommendation of 6-years-to-life, considering the defendant’s horrific behavior.

Meyerhoffer was sentenced in 1st District Court Tuesday morning. He previously had pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. The guilty plea was in exchange for prosecutors dropping four similar charges and recommending the lighter sentence.

Judge Cannell told Meyerhoffer his actions, molesting the victims, was horribly selfish. He said, “I don’t wish ill will on anyone, but there needs to be a lot of time for the victim’s healing.”

Detectives began investigating Meyerhoffer after one of the victims told her mother that the defendant had molested her. She described how he “patted” or “touched” her inappropriately, over and underneath her clothing.

As the investigation continued, three more victims described similar incidents. The girls ranged in ages from 8 to 11-years-old when the sexual abuses occurred. All of them were acquaintances of the suspect.

The fourth victim, who is an adult now, told police how Meyerhoffer molested her for more than nine years, until she was over 20-years-old. She explained how he would purchase alcohol and drugs for her while she was a teenager. He would get her drunk and then ask her to expose herself, while he inappropriately touched himself.

During Tuesday’s sentencing, Meyerhoffer told the court that what he had done was deplorable. He asked the victims for mercy, expressing, “I hope you can know how penitent I am. I ask that someday you can forgive me.”

Defense attorney Jeanne Campbell said there was no excuse for her client’s actions. She told the judge that the lesser prison term was recommended because Meyerhoffer had no major criminal history. She explained, “we aren’t saying he doesn’t deserve some punishment, but he has a wife and family that he hopes to one day see again.”

Cache County Deputy Attorney Dane Murray had acknowledged before the sentence was given that he and Campbell had worked out the plea deal, with the lesser recommended sentence. He expressed hope, though, for a harsher punishment. He said, “the defendant is not sorry for what he did, he is sorry for getting caught.”


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