Jonathan Raymond Carver

Case report

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Jonathan Carver AKA JR Carver served a full-time Mormon mission to Haiti from 1998-2000.

While working with his wife at Alpine Academy in 2008, Carver repeatedly raped a 17-year-old girl who was living there. He later admitted to that crime.

Alpine Academy was a residential center for teenagers with psychological difficulties. Carver took advantage of the girl’s vulnerability by sexually abusing his victim.

Prosecutors believed Carver began engaging in sexual activity with the girl when his wife was gone and that Carver had at least 20 sexual encounters with the teen starting in October 2008.

In 2009, Carver pleaded guilty to five counts of forcible sexual abuse, which were amended to second-degree felonies as part of a plea bargain. A charge of third-degree felony witness tampering was dismissed.

On Carver’s LinkedIn profile as of April 2023, he stated, “I served a 2 year LDS mission to the country of Haiti, speaking Haitian Creole and French.” That was from September 1998 to October 2000.

Carver married in 2004 and is still married to his wife as of 2023.

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From Deseret News in August 2009:

“Jonathan Carver, 29, a former employee at a school for troubled girls pleaded guilty in court Thursday to five counts of forcible sexual abuse, all second-degree felonies, for sexual conduct with a 17-year-old former student.

Carver and his wife had worked as house parents for the Alpine Academy in Tooele County. Prosecutors believe Carver began engaging in sexual activity with the girl when his wife was gone and that Carver had at least 20 sexual encounters with the teen starting in October 2008.

The situation came to light when the girl was discharged from the facility and went home. A parent grew suspicious and called the school after Carver continued to have contact with the girl. Both Carver and his wife were fired.

Carver originally had been charged with four counts of rape, two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of witness tampering, but those charges were amended or dismissed as the case progressed and a plea bargain was struck.

He is set to be sentenced Oct. 6 by 3rd District Judge Stephen Henriod.”
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From Deseret News in October 2009:

“TOOELE — Judge Stephen Henriod didn’t mince words Tuesday when sentencing a house parent at a center for emotionally troubled teens who admitted he repeatedly had sex with a 17-year-old girl.

The 3rd District judge termed Jonathan Carver’s rationalizations for his behavior “disgusting” and “reprehensible,” and sentenced Carver to serve five to 30 years behind bars.

Henriod, who has been on the bench for 15 years, called Carver’s admissions to evaluators “the most dishonest exhibition of a defendant” he had ever seen.

“I think he was lying throughout his psychosexual and pre-sentence reports, and that is not unusual,” the judge said. “But I’ve never seen it to the extent I have with Mr. Carver.”

The girl’s father had equally harsh words.

“Make no mistake — we are in the presence of evil right now,” the father said. “He will always be an enemy of my family.”

Carver, 29, formerly worked with his wife at Alpine Academy as house parents in a residential center for teenagers who have psychological difficulties. The academy provides counseling and treatment, while the house parents are hired to offer daily supervision and to provide a family-like atmosphere.

The girl’s parents brought her from Georgia to Alpine Academy, trusting that the agency could help their daughter, most particularly with a problem in setting boundaries.

Prior to Tuesday’s sentencing, Carver had pleaded guilty to five counts of forcible sexual abuse, which were amended to second-degree felonies as part of a plea bargain. A charge of third-degree felony witness tampering was dismissed.

Henriod appeared especially offended by Carver on one hand saying he has taken responsibility for his actions and on the other, in a five-page written statement, blaming the underage girl for “pushing herself on him” while Carver himself was “weak.”

“He blames the victim over and over and over and over,” Henriod said. “She pushed herself on him? That is reprehensible and disgusting, Mr. Carver. You are unhappy you got caught. I do think you’re a danger to the community and children.”

The girl’s father wept as he lashed out at Carver, saying Carver had taken advantage of the inside information he had about the girl’s vulnerabilities and, in typical pedophile fashion, isolated her from her family, “groomed” her for his affection, and then slowly escalated the contact until he began raping her three or four times a week, using his position of trust to make the girl think this was love.

The father called Carver deceitful, manipulative and “someone who has a God complex and believes he’s smarter than anyone else in this room.”

Even after the girl returned home, Carver taught her to install a ghost hard-drive on a computer and another device that hides correct phone numbers to conceal their continued communication.

The father also said that during the police investigation, Carver harassed the girl and her family with such things as demeaning comments on social-networking sites, along with unwanted phone calls and text messages.

The mother also denounced Carver, and both of the parents said Carver’s wife should be ashamed for turning a blind eye to what was going on for months when the girl was at Alpine Academy. Carver’s wife has not been charged with anything. Prosecutors say they do not know when she became aware of Carver’s conduct with the girl.

Carver apologized in court.

“Your honor, the things that happened to me that I did, I don’t have any excuses for,” he said. “I regret it. I’d do anything to change it. Apologies seem weak at this point, but I destroyed a lot of people, especially her and her family. I know I need help. I want to be good and do good. I’m really sorry,” Carver said.

Carver’s lawyer, Jon Williams, said the psychosexual evaluation showed Carver to be a low risk for re-offending and asked the judge for probation, or barring that, concurrent sentences.

However, Tooele County Attorney Doug Hogan said Carver knew of the personal problems the girl was struggling with and, instead of helping her as someone in a position of trust should do, took advantage of the girl.”