College of Utah diver accused of rape nabbed after fleeing nation

The College of Utah student-athlete who fled to Canada after he was accused of rape was nabbed by authorities after re-entering the nation, prosecutors stated.

Benjamin Smyth, a Vancouver native in his second 12 months on the faculty, was arrested this week and charged with sodomy, sexual abuse and rape, based on Salt Lake County District Legal professional Sim Gill.

Smyth’s legal professional declined to touch upon whether or not Smyth returned from his escape to Canada willingly or was caught when his return to the nation triggered a warrant for his arrest.

“It’s our understanding that he’s in custody in Seattle,” Gill stated.

Smyth is accused of forcing himself on a fellow pupil the evening he met her in August 2022.

The 19-year-old Division I scholarship diver visited the unnamed lady in her dorm room after studying her roommates weren’t dwelling, courtroom paperwork allege.

The sufferer rejected all of Smyth’s repeated alleged makes an attempt to sexually have interaction together with her — together with a suggestion of his to play “fact or dare.”

Ultimately, Smyth allegedly pushed the younger lady all the way down to the ground as she cried “no,” that she “didn’t wish to try this” and expressed ache.

The girl reported the crime in February, ensuing within the instant expulsion of Smyth from the college’s diving staff — simply two weeks earlier than the staff’s Division I championship meet.

Smyth is accused of initially denying that he knew the sufferer, however later retracted the lie and claimed the 2 had consensual intercourse, the arrest warrant stated.

In line with Smyth’s buddies, the diver incessantly bragged “in regards to the variety of ladies he has intercourse with” and compiled an inventory of his conquests to point out others.

When a detective arrived at Smyth’s dorm room to serve a restraining order, his roommate stated that the diver had packed his baggage and moved out.

The varsity confirmed that Smyth was enrolled within the spring semester when he allegedly escaped to his native Vancouver.

The college has since scrubbed Smyth’s profile from its athletics website, although an current account exhibits that he competed in a meet simply three days earlier than his alleged sufferer reported the assault.

“We take issues of this kind very significantly, and have continued to watch the state of affairs,” the College of Utah stated in a press release.