Logan man bound over on new charges of sexually abusing young girl

Booking photo for Cody C. Smith (Courtesy: Cache County Jail)

LOGAN — A 44-year-old Logan man, who is already serving a 10-years-to-life sentence for sexually abusing a teenage girl, has been bound over for trial on new similar charges. Cody C. Smith pleaded not guilty after a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to show the crimes had been committed.

Smith appeared in 1st District Court Monday afternoon for a preliminary hearing. He was previously charged with six counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony.

Cache County Chief Prosecutor Spencer Walsh told the court how Smith is alleged to have molested and groped the young girl multiple times, between January 2010 and December 2012. The victim would have been under the age of 10 at the time.

In a two-hour recorded interview that was presented as evidence, the victim told a forensic interviewer how Smith touched her several times while she was bathing. He also allegedly molested her while she was sleeping and watching a movie.

Smith, who is representing himself, told the court the allegations are false. He claimed the victim was “coached” what to say. He explained that in another recorded interview, the victim contradicted the allegations.

Judge Thomas Willmore told Smith that the purpose of the hearing was not to weigh the credibility of any evidence. He said that would be reserved for a jury to decide.

Judge Willmore dropped one of the charges, explaining that prosecutors had speculated and failed to present evidence to back it up. He scheduled a four-day jury trial for the remaining five counts to begin January 7, 2020.

Smith was originally arrested in March 2013, accused of encouraging a teenage girl and her boyfriend to engage in sex while in his home. The girl also said Smith molested her on multiple occasions.

During his trial in January 2015, Smith accepted a plea deal, pleading “no contest” to two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, where he neither admitted guilt nor disputed the charges. The plea deal kept the victim from testifying against him in exchange for prosecutors recommending a lesser sentence.

Smith was a reserve officer, volunteering with the Logan City Police Department, after graduating from the police academy in the mid-90’s. He volunteered for the Cache County Sheriff’s Office from May 1999 to October 1999. He was hired full-time but terminated shortly after for not meeting department standards.


[email protected]

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.