The Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office issued the following news release: On December 11th, 2025, detectives with the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office were conducting an undercover chat operation as members of the Internet Crimes Against Children(ICAC) taskforce. Detectives had become aware that an individual who was currently on the sex offender registry, and also on probation with Adult Probation and Parole had been court ordered to not have access to the internet. Upon investigating, the suspect had been found to be using several social media platforms in violation of his registry status. Detectives initiated an undercover chat with the suspect identified as Richard Rasmussen of Duchesne. The chat was started with Richard using the Meet Me social media platform, and the officer informed Richard they were a 17-year-old female. After several minutes of random chatting, the conversation began to take on a sexual tone and Richard asked the alleged 17-year-old female if they would meet with him. Richard also began asking very sexual and direct questions regarding the female juvenile. Richard also sent explicit photographs of himself to the undercover officer on the Meet Me app. Eventually, the undercover officer told Richard they needed to go to Al’s Food Town in Duchesne to buy groceries for dinner. Richard requested to meet the juvenile at that location. Officers with the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office and AP&P arrived at the meeting spot prior to Richard’s arrival. Richard arrived a short time later and was taken into custody. Richard was charged with 1 count of Enticing a Minor, a 1st Degree Felony, 1 count of Dealing in Harmful Material to a Minor, a 2nd Degree Felony, 1 count of Distribution of Pornographic Material, a 3rd Degree Felony, as well as 4 counts of Violation of the Sex Offender Registry. The Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office wants to reassure the public that we take online solicitation of our children very serious, and are continually striving to bring these offenders to justice. The Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work to keep our youth safe from online predators, and safeguard our children’s future. If you have concerns that your child may be the victim of an online predator, please reach out to the Sheriff’s Office at 435-738-1199 or call 911.
PHOTO from Utah Sex Offender Registry
