Summary
Paul Bryant was a former HOA president and LDS church member.
In 2023, Bryant pleaded not guilty to failure to register as a sex offender; at the time, he was an HOA president in Lehi, Utah.
Bryant served a full-time mission for the LDS church in Cordoba, Argentina.
LDS church callings Bryant held include branch president (on his mission to Argentina), cub scout leader, Primary teacher, young men’s leader, and elders quorum presidency member.
Bryant was married in the Salt Lake LDS temple. He was later divorced and his temple sealing was cancelled (often informally called a “temple divorce”).
In 2016, Bryant was convicted of child sexual abuse. He took a plea deal and served two years in prison.
Bryant was convicted in 2016 of:
Description : 76-5-404.1 – AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD-ATTEMPTED/1ST DEGREE FELONY (attempted)
Bryant’s LDS bishop wrote to the judge in his behalf, according to a person familiar with Bryant’s case who asked to remain anonymous.
One of Bryant’s victims told an LDS bishop in Alpine, Utah about the abuse. The bishop called the victim a liar and did not notify police or Bryant’s wife, according to the source.
After Bryant’s divorce, plea agreement, admission of guilt and prison time served, his new Mormon bishop in Lehi, Utah continued to protect him at great lengths to his congregation, the source said.
Bryant died by suicide in December 2024.
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Thanks to your donations, FLOODLIT has obtained court records in Bryant’s case.
A police probable cause statement in Bryant’s case reads in part:
“PROBABLE CAUSE STATEMENT: [officer], Utah County Sheriff’s Office, having probable cause to believe a crime was committed, submitted evidence in support of the filing of this Information: For more than a decade, Paul Bryant has been sexually abusing two [redacted] children, in the Highland/Alpine area, on a regular basis.
Between 3/25/1998 and 3/24/2005, Bryant molested [a boy] at least twice a year (he disclosed at least 1-2 times a month) for seven years when he was between 6 and 13 years of age (COUNTS 1-14). […] During the years of molestation, Bryant told [the boy] not to disclose the abuse, saying that if [the boy] did disclose, Bryant “would kill [him] or make [his] friends disappear and get away with it because he was in the FBI and knew all the laws and how it worked.” […] Bryant was in a position of special trust, which is an aggravating factor.
Between 7/6/2003 and 7/5/2007, Bryant molested [a girl] at least twice a year when she was between 10 and 13 years of age. […] Bryant was in a position of special trust, which is an aggravating factor.
During the investigation, [a woman] disclosed she was molested by Bryant when she was 6 or 7 (and he was 14 YO) […]. Post-Miranda, Bryant confessed that [the woman] was the sexual aggressor […]. He denied sexually touching [son] and or [daughter]
After Bryant was booked into jail on August 31, 2015 for the above 22 charges, he called his father and neighbor/girlfriend on September 1 to repeatedly asked them to tamper with the victims’ willingness to cooperate with the investigation and prosecution of the case. At 2:48pm, he called his father and told him to contact [the male victim] and [the female victim] to explain to them the “grave consequences” of what they were doing and to have them “go and tell the officers, ‘Hey, we were mad at [Bryant] and we were willing to work things out;’ maybe there would be a change of heart” (COUNTS 24 & 25). At 3:59pm, Bryant called his neighbor/girlfriend to tell her that she needed to “beg, plead, do whatever you have to do to talk to [[the male victim] and [the female victim]] and have them drop the charges” (COUNTS 26 & 27).”
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According to Bryant’s plea agreement, he was to “serve two consecutive one-year sentences in the Utah County Jail” and be on supervised probation for five years.
On April 3, 2019, Bryant completed a sex offender treatment program.
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Donate »Facts
- Criminal: Convicted, Jail, Plea agreement, Pleaded guilty, Prison, Probation, Registered sex offender,
- Civil: No civil case,
- Positions: Branch president, Missionary, Other leader, Primary, Scout leader, Youth leader,
- Crime: Unknown timeframe, in Utah, Utah County (Utah),
- Convicted: 2010s, 2016,
- Crime scenes: Unknown crime scene,
- Victims: 1 victim,
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Born: 1968
Died: 2024 - Mission: 1987-1989 Argentina Argentina Cordoba
- Places: Argentina, Utah, Utah County (Utah),
Sources
- Sex offender arrested after allegedly visiting Utah elementary school,
- Man professes he was falsely accused of sexually abusing adopted children,
- Gaping hole in Utah law allows child sex offender to go into private park,
- Paul Bryant,
- Child sex offender pleads not guilty to failure to register as HOA president in Lehi,
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1. Sex offender arrested after allegedly visiting Utah elementary school
AMERICAN FORK — Utah County sheriff’s detectives are investigating why they say a registered sex offender visited an elementary school for four consecutive days during Halloween without ever signing in at the front office.
Paul Bryant, 51, of Lehi, was arrested Monday for investigation of four counts of being a sex offender in a protected area.
From Oct. 28-31, Bryant visited an undisclosed elementary school in American Fork, according to a police affidavit. Bryant is a friend of a teacher in the school and went to that teacher’s classroom, said Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
Bryant does not have a child who attends the school, Cannon said. Whether the teacher knew Bryant was not allowed to be on school property was not known Tuesday, but Cannon said it was something that Bryant should have known.
“He had no legitimate reason at all to be there. He knew that. His signature is on the Sex Offender Registry agreement,” he said.
Bryant pleaded guilty in 2016 to three counts of attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child, after originally being arrested for investigation of 21 counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child. He was given a suspended prison term, but sentenced to a year in jail followed by probation.
“In July of 2019, Paul was released early from probation but as a lifetime member of the Sex Offender Registry, he was still required to register as a sex offender and adhere to the Sex Offender Registry laws and requirements,” deputies noted in the new arresting affidavit.
As part of the requirements for being a registered sex offender, Bryant is not allowed to enter “protected areas” such as schools.
But over Halloween, Bryant visited an elementary school — an action that was noticed by “several others” who called the sheriff’s office to investigate, Cannon said.
“Interviews with the teacher and school administrators revealed that Paul had been present in the elementary school on at least four different occasions the week of Halloween, Oct. 28–31. All visitors to the school are required to sign the ‘visitor registration log’ located in the main office. Even though Paul visited the main office on all four of his visits, he never signed the visitor registration logbook,” according to the affidavit.
"There would be ample opportunities for Paul to interact in an unsupervised manner with the children. This interaction would be further facilitated by the presence of a dog."
–Police affidavitA picture was presented to detectives showing Bryant in a Halloween costume at the school, the affidavit states. On at least one occasion, he also brought a service dog to the school with him.
“This occurred during the lunch hour when the kids were in the halls and where there would be ample opportunities for Paul to interact in an unsupervised manner with the children. This interaction would be further facilitated by the presence of a dog,” the affidavit states. “It should also be noted that on at least one occasion, Paul brought treats for the children in the teacher’s class. Many of these elementary school children would be around the same approximate age of the male child victim that Paul has previously admitted sexually assaulting.”
Bryant requested his attorney be present when deputies went to his home to interview him, according to the sheriff’s office. After he was arrested and taken to jail, his attorney was able to post bail.
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2. Man professes he was falsely accused of sexually abusing adopted children
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3. Gaping hole in Utah law allows child sex offender to go into private park
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4. Paul Bryant
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5. Child sex offender pleads not guilty to failure to register as HOA president in Lehi
[Note: redactions are by FLOODLIT.]
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A child sex offender who has been the focus of multiple 2News Investigations was arraigned in Fourth District Court on Monday during an online hearing in Judge Kraig Powell’s courtroom in Provo.
Paul Bryant, 55, Lehi & Riverton, had his attorney Doug Thompson enter not guilty pleas to three counts of failing to register as a sex offender, all third-degree felonies. Bryant could be seen off to the side before his arraignment got underway which was delayed about an hour due to several cases involving inmates in the county jail also on the court docket.
Deputy Utah County Attorney Rachelle Shumway is the prosecutor on this case, and she also appeared online for Bryant’s arraignment.
Bryant’s preliminary hearing was held on September 25th and Judge Powell bound the case over for trial.
BRYANT ADMITTED TO POLICE HE WAS PRESIDENT OF HIS HOA
In 2022, Bryant was seen and photographed among children in his HOA park, The Walk at Ivory Ridge. Residents and homeowners called the Lehi Police Department which immediately launched a criminal investigation. The charging document says that on April 6, 2022, Bryant stated to Lehi Police Sergeant Jeff Smith that the parks are private parks owned by the HOA, so he is allowed to be there. It also says he stated that he is HOA president.
This is some of what he said about being HOA president.
“And – and I do care for our community. And there have been times I have been in the park with our community manager or even residents because of things that have happened or concerns, but I’m with another adult, and so its unfortunate people aren’t recognizing that “Hey, he’s there for a reason.”
Bryant elaborated, “Now, if they’re just saying, “This guy is an SO, he’s there,” and they don’t know that I’m the HOA president and that I’m there for a reason it would be nice to get them educated so they understand, “Oh you’re in charge of all this stuff. You’re the one, you know, trying to fix the sprinkler line that’s popped up and blowing water everywhere.”
“HEY, BY THE WAY, THIS IS ME AND THIS IS WHAT I DO”
Sgt. Smith acknowledged what he was saying, and Bryant continued, “You know, which apparently it looks like we’re going to have to do a community letter and say, “Hey, by the way, this is me and this is what I do.”
Bryant was originally charged for being in the HOA park, but the first prosecutor agreed to dismiss it and his other attorney Scott Weight successfully argued that it was on private property. However, three remaining charges went forward. During Sgt. Smith’s interview with Bryant, the probable cause affidavit shows Bryant said, “Defendant states that he has been on the HOA board since 2018 and was elected President of the Board in 2019. Defendant stated that this is a volunteer position and that he does not get paid for his work with the HOA.”
The investigation concluded that prior to April 2022, he had not registered his volunteer work through the HOA with the Sex Offender Registry and did not register his volunteer work when he registered in May or November of 2019 and 2020, and 2021.
APRIL 2022 BRYANT ACKNOWLEDGED TO 2NEWS INVESTIGATES HE WAS HOA PRESIDENT
What’s more, Bryant had previously confirmed that he was president of his HOA when 2News Investigates talked to him at his home in April 2022.
At the time 2News Investigates was conducting an investigation prior to his sentencing in May of 2022, for going into Legacy Elementary School dressed as Prince Charming to see his girlfriend [REDACTED] who was a teacher.
At the time, he professed his innocence with regards to his child sex offense convictions, even though he swore under oath that he was not being forced or coerced into pleading guilty and did not want to talk about why he went into the school around children the same age as his victims, who were his adopted children.
Bryant then closed his door but opened it again and kicked us off his property and told us that he would fine KUTV 2News if we came back.
We responded, telling him that we knew he was HOA president and he said, “That’s right.”
CHARACTER LETTERS PRIOR TO SENTENCING SHOW HE WAS PRESIDENT OF HIS HOA
Prior to speaking with him we found character letters in the court record for his upcoming sentencing for going into Legacy Elementary school.
One dated March 29, 2022, from [REDACTED] who wrote that he has known him for 7 years as a friend and neighbor. [REDACTED] wrote, “Paul is currently serving as our HOA President. Having served on the Board myself, I know how much work, sacrifice, and patience goes into this effort. His work is very much appreciated.”
Another one was submitted to the court by his attorney Scott Weight, and it was from [REDACTED].
[REDACTED] wrote that he moved across the street from Bryant in 2019 and considered him a “highly regarded neighbor and friend.”
[REDACTED] wrote that he was voted in as HOA Treasurer in January 2020 and that Bryant was unanimously voted in as President.
He went on to write that since that time, they have served together in those capacities ensuring that the community is “well represented” in a “positive manner.”
PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE SCHEDULED
Judge Powell scheduled a pre-trial conference for the afternoon of December 11th. Bryant is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life stemming from three First-Degree Felony convictions for “Attempted Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Child.”
Prior to being offered a plea deal, he was facing 15 First-Degree Felony counts of “Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Child” charges, sexual battery charges and then witness tampering charges were tacked on stemming from calls he made to his father and a neighbor from the Utah County Jail.
However, the most serious charges of all were amended to attempted and reduced in accordance with the plea deal.
Documents
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Criminal case documents
FLOODLIT has a copy of a related probable cause affidavit, but it is not currently available for download. Please check back soon or contact us to request an copy.Civil case documents
We do not know of any related civil cases, so no related civil case documents exist. If you have information that suggests otherwise, please contact us.
Other documents
FLOODLIT has a copy of one or more related documents, but none are currently available for download. Please check back soon or contact us to request copies.Videos
- Video title: Gaping hole in Utah law allows child sex offender to go into private park - KUTV 2 News Salt Lake City - 2023-01-12
- Video description: "The victim’s mother [...] was emotionally distraught as she addressed her ex-husband Paul Bryant before he was sentenced for sex offenses against her children whom he adopted."