This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Gov. Gary Herbert's half brother — who is serving prison time for engaging in online chats with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl — has been charged with sexually abusing a girl more than a decade ago.
The victim, who is now an adult, recently told authorities that Paul Gordon Peters had sexually abused her when she was a child and while he was dating her mother, according to charging documents.
Peters was charged last week in 4th District Court with three counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, six counts of sodomy on a child, and two counts of rape, all first-degree felonies.
The alleged abuse happened in about 2000 to 2002, charges state, while Peters was dating the victim's mother — a relationship that lasted from the time the victim was 7 until she was 11 years old.
The abuse took place in the victim's home in Utah County, according to charges. On one occasion, Peters drove the alleged victim up a canyon and sexually abused her, charges state.
An initial court appearance is scheduled for April 18.
The presumptive sentence for aggravated sexual abuse of a child is five years to life; the presumptive sentences for sodomy and rape are six, 10 or 15 years to life.
Peters had been sentenced in December to zero to five years in prison for enticing a minor and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Peters admitted in November to engaging in sexually related online chats with a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.
After chatting about sex with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, Peters sent pictures of male genitals and arranged to meet her at a specific time and place, where police arrested him.
The judge had recommended that Peters complete sex offender therapy and drug treatment while behind bars.
Peters is scheduled for his first parole hearing in June in the enticement case.
"Regardless of who is being accused, the governor believes these are horrific allegations," the governor's office said in a news release after the enticement was filed last year. According to the news release, Peters and Herbert were raised in different homes.
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