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A Logan man pleaded no contest to aggravated sex abuse charges on Wednesday, during the second day of a trial on allegations that he forced a teenage girl to have sex with four teenage boys over a three-year period.

Cody C. Smith, 40, pleaded no contest to two charges of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child. He was originally charged in Logan's 1st District Court with ten felony counts of rape, object rape, forcible sexual abuse and aggravated sexual assault.

Smith, who once worked as a reserve officer for Logan police and the Cache County Sheriff's Office, faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on March 11.

In March 2014, a then-15-year-old girl went to police and disclosed that Smith had been forcing her to have sex with her boyfriends beginning in 2011, when she was 13.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the girl told police that in 2011, Smith told her then-13-year-old boyfriend that he should get the girl pregnant. Weeks later, Smith allegedly took the teens out for ice cream, then back to his Logan apartment where he instructed them to go to an upstairs room and have sex. The teen boy told investigators that at that time, he was "LDS and naive" and that Smith came into the room and gave instructions. The girl told police that this happened half a dozen times in 2011 and 2012.

The teen girl told police that the same scenario happened with three other boyfriends between 2013 and 2014. Two of the boys, who were each 16 years old at the time of the alleged crimes, told police that they went to Smith's apartment with the girl to watch movies and Smith urged the teen couple to go upstairs and have sex on multiple occasions.

One boy said he did end up having sex with the girl, but told investigators that he felt "it was the only way he was going to get out of there [Smith's apartment.]"

A fourth teen boy told investigators that Smith bought him condoms to use, and between October 2013 and February 2014, he had sex with the girl while Smith stood outside a bedroom door shouting directives at the couple.

Smith was also accused of touching the teen girl's buttocks, genitals and breasts and had allegedly choked the girl to unconsciousness on several occasions.

Because Smith previously worked as a reserve police officer, investigators with the Utah State University police department investigated the case. Deputy Cache County Attorney Barbara Lachmar said Wednesday that none of the alleged crimes occurred when Smith was a law enforcement officer.

Lachmar said Smith's pleas a day after several of the underage witnesses had testified before a jury.

"I just think that the defense attorney saw the writing on the wall, that there was a substantial likelihood of conviction," Lachmar said. "It made a lot of sense that he would take a plea agreement. The victim is very young, and we were interested in protecting her."

Lachmar said the teen girl had not yet testified, and was willing to allow Smith to take the plea deal. The prosecutor said that due to the "unusual facts and circumstances" in the case, the teen boys involved also are considered victims.

Defense attorney Susanne Gustin said Wednesday the case was a difficult one due to the number of victims and the "bizarre allegations."

"It is hard to overcome a case in which there is a parade of witnesses who do not know each other, all saying the same thing," she said. "Cody did not want to put any more victims through the trauma of testifying. He made the right choice for himself and for the victims."

Court records indicate that Smith faces a six year to life prison sentence on each count, and that prosecutors will argue that they be served consecutively to one another, while Gustin will argue at sentencing that they should run concurrently.

Smith was taken into custody on Tuesday, after a judge ordered that he be held at the Cache County jail until sentencing.

jmiller@sltrib.com Twitter: @jm_miller