Samuel Whitney Faber

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1. Utah man charged with sexually assaulting woman he met on LDS dating app
   view source details | 26 Dec 2022 | ABC4
2. Sandy man admits sexually assaulting 3 women he met on dating apps
   view source details | 13 Jun 2024 | KSL

Case information source details

• Utah man charged with sexually assaulting woman he met on LDS dating app
  Publisher: ABC4
  Date: 26 Dec 2022
  Archive.org
  Source type: News article

  SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) – A Utah man was charged Thursday with sexually assaulting a woman he met on a dating app.

  Samuel Whitney Faber, 42, out of Sandy, was charged with first-degree felony aggravated sexual assault (three counts), first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping (one count), second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse (two counts), and third-degree felony aggravated assault (one count).

  According to an affidavit of probable cause, the victim met Faber on the Mutual dating app, which is meant for members of the LDS Church. The two reportedly chatted for a few days before meeting up on March 6.

  They met at a restaurant, the affidavit states, and the victim claims that Faber was “asking her weird questions,” like if she had a conceal carry weapon permit. Faber allegedly then told her that he had one, and took a .22 caliber gun, which “looked like a silver metal case that opened up into a firearm,” out of his pocket.

  They reportedly discussed cars before Faber invited the victim to come back to his house and see his new Camaro, to which she agreed.

  On the way back to his house, Faber allegedly asked the victim if her family knew where she was, before commenting, “If I threw you in a ditch, I would have to take your phone,” the affidavit states.

  Once back at the house, Faber gave the victim a tour of his house and backyard, and once again showed her his gun, pointing out “where the bullets go and where the extra bullets go,” before putting a bullet in the gun and then putting the gun back in his pocket.

  Faber reportedly then began making sexual advances on the victim, who repeatedly said “no” and resisted his attempts. Eventually, the victim agreed to Faber’s request to go into his hot tub because “she felt she could control the situation better outside,” the affidavit states.

  Once in the hot tub, Faber continued to sexually assault the victim. The affidavit states that they then exited the hot tub, and the victim asked Faber to take her back to her car.

  On the way back to her car, Faber reportedly put her purse behind his seat “where she could not reach it.” Instead of taking her back to her car, Faber allegedly stopped behind a building in an industrial area and forcibly sexually assaulted her.

  After the assault, Faber then drove the victim back to her car. Once free, the victim drove to the hospital for a sexual assault examination.

  According to the affidavit, Faber told police that “if he knew all of this was going to happen, he wouldn’t have pushed the limits.”

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  Sandy man admits sexually assaulting 3 women he met on dating apps
  Publisher: KSL
  Date: 13 Jun 2024
  Archive.org
  Source type: News article

  SALT LAKE CITY — A Sandy man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three women he met on dating apps.

  Samuel Whitney Faber, 43, was charged in three cases, with a total of three counts of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, eight counts of forcible sexual abuse and aggravated assault, tied to assaults involving three women since 2022.

  On May 31, Faber entered into a plea deal to resolve all three cases, pleading guilty to amended charges of rape and forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies; plus aggravated sexual assault and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, third-degree felonies. When he is sentenced Aug. 21, it is anticipated he'll be sent to the Utah State Prison for a term of five years to life, with many of his sentences running concurrent.

  Before entering into the plea agreement, one victim whom Faber admitted to raping, in addition to physically assaulting, told 3rd District Court Judge Richard McKelvie her only hesitation to agreeing to the plea deal was none of the amended charges include long mandatory sentences.

  "I'm not necessarily objecting to the plea. I just want it known that no amount of time will ever be enough. He strangled me and I had a stroke. And that has affected my work, my kids, my whole life, and that will never go away. I'm always going to have problems with that," she tearfully told the judge.

  The woman said her foot was also broken when she was assaulted. And she was so traumatized by the entire event that, for a long time, she wouldn't even leave her bedroom, out of fear.

  "This has ruined my life … and it's just something I have to live with forever. And any amount of time is never going to fix what happened to me. I'm always going to be broken. I am doing this because I think he will do this again. And I think I have to save the next one," she said. "I don't want him to do it again, and that's why I'm here."

  The woman met Faber on the Mutual dating app in March 2022. After meeting him at a restaurant, Faber began asking her "weird questions" and then took a gun out of his pocket, according to charging documents. He also talked, in a joking manner, about throwing her body into a ditch. Faber later assaulted the woman at both his house and in his car.

  The other two women who were victimized by Faber were also in the courtroom when he pleaded guilty. McKelvie says he doesn't want the plea deal to minimize the trauma they each endured, and he applauded the woman who addressed the court for her courage, telling her he hopes she will at least explore the possibility of forgiveness as a way to move on.

  "In my experience, both as a judge and as a human being, the principle of forgiveness is incredibly powerful. And to be clear about this, I am not a religious person, and I don't believe that forgiveness is a religious principle. It is an opportunity that all of us have that someone has done wrong to us and that only by the miracle of forgiveness can we move on from that," McKelvie said.

  Accepting Faber's plea deal was also McKelvie's last act as a state judge.

  "This is literally the last thing I'm going to do as a district court judge. My retirement is today," he told the courtroom.

  Faber will undergo a psychosexual evaluation before being sentenced. McKelvie will return as a senior court judge to oversee that hearing.