PROVO — A former Provo High School teacher and athletic trainer has pleaded guilty to having sex with a female student he taught and worked with.
Donald Nelson Bills, 55, pleaded guilty Thursday to forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony; object rape, a first-degree felony; forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and tampering with a witness, a third-degree felony.
In exchange for the plea, 10 additional charges were dismissed.
Bills first met the teenage girl in 2012 at a softball game she was playing in, then taught her physiology and sports medicine classes during the 2012-13 school year, charging documents state. The two saw each other almost daily, and Bills would often tell the girl she was one of his favorite and brightest students.
In May 2013, Bills made special accommodations and invited the 17-year-old girl to be an intern in the school's training program, which oversaw students on all of Provo High's athletic teams, charges state. Bills told police he became attached the girl that same month when he volunteered with her parents' permission to go to her home and examine a shoulder injury she sustained playing softball and to personally wrap the injury as it was being treated over time.
As the teen worked as an intern in the athletic training office through the 2013 fall semester, Bills would talk to the girl often about his personal life, including his experiences in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his service as an LDS Church bishop, and his absent sex life with his wife, according to the charges. Bills placed a framed photo of the girl playing softball on his desk.
The two spent time alone together as Bills asked the teen to stay late tutoring other students in his classes and working extra time as an intern, telling her that he was jealous of her boyfriend and that he couldn't stop thinking about her, according to the charges. Over time, hugging and kissing advanced to a sexual relationship, with encounters usually taking place in Bills' office at the school or in the athletic training room, charges state.
Bills used his position as an LDS bishop to convince the girl that their behavior was not inappropriate, according to the charges. He also told her that if their relationship was ever discovered that she should say they had only kissed and that she had initiated it. Otherwise, he warned she would be hated at school as the person who "took down Donny Bills" and would no longer be allowed to participate in the athletic training program.
“When we are confronted with evidence that challenges our deeply held beliefs we are more likely to reframe the evidence than we are to alter our beliefs. We simply invent new reasons, new justifications, new explanations. Sometimes we ignore the evidence altogether.” (Mathew Syed 'Black Box Thinking')
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.
Life in prison seems like a way over the top penalty for carrying on a sexual relationship with a 17 year old. The way in which he abused his authority, while contemptible, isn't criminal.
beastie wrote:He was just born in the wrong time period. If he'd been in the early LDS church, he simply could have taken the girl as just one more wife.
Maybe the LDS Church should put a portrait of Donny Bills right next to wherever it has one of JSJr. They're birds of a feather.
I have a question wrote:Bills told police he became attached the girl that same month when he volunteered with her parents' permission to go to her home and examine a shoulder injury she sustained playing softball and to personally wrap the injury as it was being treated over time.
There it is. Seduced by a naked shoulder. This just goes to show you that we can trust the Prophet's admonition for women to wear full or cap sleeves at all times. Church is True.
beastie wrote:He was just born in the wrong time period. If he'd been in the early LDS church, he simply could have taken the girl as just one more wife.
Yup, and while members will be disgusted with this man they will at the same time sing praises of Joseph Smith.
EAllusion wrote:Life in prison seems like a way over the top penalty for carrying on a sexual relationship with a 17 year old. The way in which he abused his authority, while contemptible, isn't criminal.
Maybe, but the article implies there was more to it than just a statutory rape charge: forcible sodomy and forcible rape, as well as obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Doesn't look like we are getting the whole story here.
"The Church is authoritarian, tribal, provincial, and founded on a loosely biblical racist frontier sex cult."--Juggler Vain "The lds church is the Amway of religions. Even with all the soap they sell, they still manage to come away smelling dirty."--Some Schmo
EAllusion wrote:Life in prison seems like a way over the top penalty for carrying on a sexual relationship with a 17 year old. The way in which he abused his authority, while contemptible, isn't criminal.
He is charged with rape. Rape is a heinous crime. The charges are attempted forcible rape, attempted forcible sodomy and forcible sex abuse. Forcible means he used force or fear to abuse her. He plead guilty. He also plead guilty to obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
There were also 10 other similar charges that were dropped that we don't even know about.
He's charged with 5 felonies. The 10 other charges may or may not have also been felonies. Why would "up to" life in prison be over the top? Sounds typical for these types of charges.
Donald Nelson Bills, 54, was arrested in January and charged in 4th District Court with forcible sodomy and three counts of object rape, all first-degree felonies, and two counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse.
~Those who benefit from the status quo always attribute inequities to the choices of the underdog.~Ann Crittenden ~The Goddess is not separate from the world-She is the world and all things in it.~