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Farmington • A former state forensic scientist was sentenced Monday to spend up to life behind bars for sexually abusing two children.
Second District Judge Michael Allphin, who described the case as "particularly heinous," imposed the maximum sentence for each of five counts but ordered that the terms be served concurrently.
Michael Hepworth was ordered to serve prison terms of 15 years to life for attempted rape of a child and attempted sodomy of a child; five years to life for rape and forcible sodomy; and one to 15 years for sexual exploitation of a minor. The sexual exploitation count is a second-degree felony and the others are first-degree felonies.
Before Allphin meted out the punishment, defense attorney Robb Jones said Hepworth is apologetic and added that there is no excuse for what his client did.
The 55-year-old Hepworth did not speak at the sentencing but wrote in a letter to the judge, "From the depth of my soul I apologize for the hurt I have caused my victims and everyone else in my life."
Hepworth, of Woods Cross, was charged last June with eight first-degree felonies and two second-degree felonies. He pleaded guilty in February to the five counts and the other five charges were dropped.
Court documents say Hepworth sexually abused a boy and girl who he had known for several years. The children's mother reported the crimes last May.
One of the victims reported to police that Hepworth showed him pornography, often child pornography, as the sexual assaults took place.
Hepworth, who worked in the computer forensics laboratory at Utah's crime lab, had "access to numerous files containing child pornography," according to a search warrant affidavit.
In May 2016, the boy messaged Hepworth asking if he had access to the "special videos" anymore, according to court documents, to which Hepworth responded that he did not "because he no longer works in that lab."
Both children told investigators that Hepworth gave them money in exchange for sex. The girl was 15 last year when she told police she first had intercourse with Hepworth when she was 12. The boy was 17 last year when he reported being abused since he was 8 or 10 years old.
Hepworth began working at the crime lab in January 2002, according to a Department of Public Safety spokeswoman. He was terminated by the state last year and has been held at the Davis County jail in lieu of $250,000 bail since his arrest in June.
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