This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A man who was nearly killed in a shooting last month in Salt Lake City now is being sought by police for allegedly raping his girlfriend's adolescent daughter.
In charges filed last week in 3rd District Court, investigators wrote that Chervon Jason Laptiste, 40, showed pornography to the 12-year-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend. The girl, now 15, told Salt Lake City police that Laptiste had sex with her multiple times when she was 12 and 13, and forced her to perform several sex acts, according to charges.
The girl said Laptiste told her that if she told anyone, she would be taken away from her mother, police wrote.
On Wednesday, police released Laptiste's photo and asked the public for help finding him. He also goes by the name Chervon Palmer, police wrote. He is black, 6 feet 2 inches tall and 260 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Laptiste was beaten and shot on May 29 near 2600 South and Highland Drive. Police, responding to an early-morning 911 call about gunshots being fired, found Laptiste lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the street.
In court documents, police wrote that witnesses reported that three people beat Mr. Laptiste at a home "to force him to talk about another incident that had occurred previously. ... Mr. Laptiste refused to speak and the beating continued until Mr. Laptiste jumped out of the window."
Shots were fired, and Laptiste was found with a gunshot to the back.
Anthony Lamar Vick, 32, and Britney Flint-Jones, 31, each were charged with attempted aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, felony discharge of a firearm and other counts in relation to the shooting.
Salt Lake County prosecutor Sim Gill confirmed that the two cases are related but would not discuss specifics.
Laptiste has been charged with three counts of rape of a child, three counts of sodomy upon a child and three counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all first-degree felonies. He also is charged with one count of dealing in harmful material to a minor and tampering with a witness, both third-degree felonies.
Twitter: @erinalberty