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Posted: 1:35 PM- KANAB - The head of the Bureau of Land Management's field office in Kanab has been charged with 13 felonies in two separate cases involving sexual abuse of a child.
Rex Lee Smart was arrested Friday and booked into Kane County's jail. He later was released after posting a $125,000 bail.
In one case, Smart, 60, is charged with sodomy on a child, attempted rape of a child, three counts of aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. All are first-degree felonies.
He also is charged with two second-degree felony counts of sexual abuse of a child.
According to court documents, the alleged crimes occurred sometime between May 15 and June 15, 2005, at Smart's house in Kanab and involved a 9-year-old girl.
The documents state that Smart fondled the girl, exposed himself to her and forced her to have oral sex and intercourse.
"The child stated that she was scared to death when this event took place," the court papers state.
In the second case, which allegedly occurred Sept. 9, 2006, Smart is charged with sodomy, three counts of aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping involving the same child.
Documents state that on that date, Smart was at a Lions Club demolition derby at the Kaneplex rodeo facility, south of Kanab, when he took the victim, then 10 years old, in his truck to teach her to drive.
He allegedly drove the vehicle away to a location where he was able to view all roads leading to and from the Kaneplex facility and laid her down on the seat of the truck against her will. Smart then took off her clothes, fondled her and had oral sex with her, according to court documents.
Kanab Police Detective Osvaldo Macias said Wednesday that he began investigating Smart about two weeks ago after Utah Division of Child and Family Services received an anonymous call alerting them to the alleged abuses.
"I went out and starting knocking on doors," Macias said. "I dropped everything to work on the case."
The detective said "aggravated" was added to some of the charges because Smart was acting as a baby sitter at the time, giving him a position of trust over the young victim.
Kanab Police Chief Tom Cram said the inquiry is continuing to see if there are other victims.
Smart is scheduled to appear in Kanab's 6th District Court on Jan. 11.
The BLM said it is evaluating the situation and plans to issue a statement later.
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