LOGAN, Utah (ABC4) — A Cache County woman faces 18 felony child sex abuse charges from incidents dating back over the last 30 years, according to court documents.
Ruth Zurcher Worthen, 75, was arrested Tuesday, June 18, on 15 felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and three felony counts of object rape of a child.
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Cache County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mikelshan Bartschi said investigators believe there may be more victims than those who have pressed charges.
“The allegations suggest additional individuals, were victimized by Ms. Worthen. The Cache County Sheriff’s Office is not only seeking other victims to identify themselves but also requesting information from anyone who has knowledge regarding this matter,” said Bartschi in a press release Wednesday, June 19.
Court documents show four victims, male and female, have come forward with child sex abuse allegations. Each victim was interviewed separately. The alleged abuses all occurred during the victims’ childhoods and each reported “prolonged periods of repeated sexual victimization.”
The explanations given by the victims included highly graphic details, including acts of penetration with hands, hairbrushes, and a spatula. One victim reported being forced into intercourse with Worthen between the ages of 8 and 12.
The stories told by the victims, however, also involve allegations of psychological abuse in addition to sexual abuse. The victims alleged Worthen would make threats during the sexual abuse, such as threatening to dismember a victim by cutting off arms “one by one, chop[ping] them into pieces and then bury[ing] them separately in the yard” and cutting off an ear or stabbing them in the abdomen and ripping out their lungs.
Victims claimed Worthen would tell them as children that “no one loves you,” and “you’re stupid.” Worthen is accused of showing victims a book with pornography and also on occasion filming some instances of abuse. Investigators seized a camcorder-style camera and a “number of old tapes and media potential consistent with the time frame.”
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One victim spoke of “how predatorial [Worthen] was, and how she took every opportunity to abuse [the victim] during the summers [they] stayed with her family or during family events,” and also how “she seemed to get a thrill from doing this under everyone’s noses.”
The probable cause statement says Worthen was interviewed by Cache County investigators.
“While she denied having engaged in such behavior on several occasions, on many more occasions she did not deny the allegations, even while graphic accusations were being read to her,” states the court document. “She appeared to deflect questions and attempted to shift blame onto other individuals.”
The document went on to state that when Worthen was told the victims simply wanted to make sure she never committed such acts in the future, she allegedly “simply shrugged and looked down at the floor.” The document continued: “Her denials were completely unconvincing, and when informed she would be booked into the jail showed no apparent behavior change or concern at all.”
There are additional allegations against Worthen that she has not been charged with due to statute of limitations issues, according to the probable cause statement. In 2019, one victim whose allegations were unable to be brought to criminal court due to statute of limitations issues and a lack of a statute for child rape at the time, filed a civil lawsuit against Worthen.
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