TAYLORSVILLE, Utah, May 20, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Taylorsville police have arrested a formerly convicted sex offender after he allegedly tried to pull open the door of a car with three children inside.
Taylorsville police were waved down by two people from the scene, the Workforce Services Building at 5735 S. Redwood Road.
One witness was the mother of the children in the car, and she had seen the man, later identified as 43-year-old Charles Adam Bascomb. She said she was inside the building when she saw he “was pulling on the door handles of her car while looking in the windows where her three children were.
“(The mother) said she went outside when she saw this, and Charles began to immediately walk away.”
The mother told the officer “she believed (Bascomb) was trying to get her children,” the affidavit says. The officer noted the children were ages 15, 9, and an infant.
A records check showed Bascomb had been booked into the Salt Lake County jail system on May 1 and 6 for his failure to register as a sex offender, as required by law.
“Charles also had several other contacts with police where he was advised to register and still has not registered,” the affidavit says. “Charles is also required to stay away from children as part of his terms as a sexual offender, and his initial offense was for sodomy of a girl.”
Bascomb said “he was just trying to get to a wedding and was not trying to get the children,” the affidavit says. “Charles admitted he knew he needed to register but stated he had three days which had already passed since his last bookings. Charles had also been released from jail on 05/17/2024 on unrelated charges and while at the jail was trying to get into other vehicles.
“Your affiant believes that Charles saw the children in the car while trying to get into it based on him saying he ‘wasn’t trying to get the children.'”
Bascomb was arrested on Friday for investigation of:
- Two counts of child kidnapping, a third-degree felony
- Kidnapping, a third-degree felony
- Failure to register as a sex offender, a third-degree felony
- Two counts of sex offender in presence of a child, a class A misdemeanor
He was ordered held without bail.
