LDS Ex-Gay Torture Therapist Gets 15 Years To Life

April 3, 2025 Crime, Religion

Salt Lake City’s NBC affiliate reports:

A former Provo counselor who specialized in counseling gay men will spend at least 15 years and up to life in prison after admitting to nonconsensual sexual conduct during therapy, instructing the men that it was part of their treatment process.

Scott Dale Owen, 66, of Spanish Fork, was sentenced to three terms of five years to life in the Utah State Prison for three convictions of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony. Fourth District Judge Kraig Powell ordered the sentences to run consecutive. He pleaded guilty to the charges on Feb. 10 under a plea deal that dismissed one additional charge of forcible sodomy and six charges of object rape, first-degree felonies.

Owen practiced at the Canyon Counseling Center in Provo and detectives interviewed at least a dozen clients who sought treatment related to same-sex attraction and were sexually abused. The charges, however, specifically related to two men for crimes committed in 2010 and 2017.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

The last time “Sam” met with his therapist, Scott Owen, the session was nothing more than an hour of Owen sexually abusing him, he said. Sam remembers sitting in his car afterward, screaming as loud as he could. “I could feel him all over my skin,” Sam said. “I could not believe this was happening.”

At first, he said, he had been hopeful about insights the trained therapist might offer: Owen also was a high-ranking leader in the LDS Church at that time, Sam said, and Owen assured him that he had helped more than 200 men who felt similarly.

Instead, he said, Owen “meticulously leveraged” his two roles as a therapist and a church leader, blending religion and therapy to assure him that the sexual touching during their sessions was key to helping him heal, learn how to accept intimacy and grow closer to God.

From my November 2023 report:

Owen agreed to meet with Provo and Spanish Fork police at the Spanish Fork Police station, they said, so that he could be transported from there to the Utah County Jail. Owen did not show up at the station, and authorities said they began searching. He was located on Wednesday afternoon in the town of Thistle, which is nearly 24 miles from Provo.

Officer Janna-Lee Holland, with Provo police, said that he was located alone in his car and a standoff with police occurred after he was found. Highway 89 was closed in the area while police worked to get Owen to safely surrender. Holland said tactical units were called in from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office in order to do so.

Once he surrendered, Owen was booked on six counts of object rape and four counts of forcible sodomy, all first-degree felonies. “We are grateful to tactical units of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office whose skillful work resulted in safe apprehension without injury to anyone,” Holland said.

From ProPublica’s August 2023 report:

For five months beginning in October 2015, Andrew said, the clinical mental health counselor groped him, encouraged him to undress and kissed him during sessions. Andrew said Owen told him that the touching was a therapeutic way to learn how to accept love and intimacy. By March 2016, Andrew had reported Owen to both his bishop and to state licensing officials.

A new investigation from The Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica shows how Utah licensers allowed Owen to continue practicing and church leaders repeatedly heard concerns but took several years to take official action. For nearly two years after Andrew’s report, Owen provided therapy to clients, some of whom were men referred for “same-sex attraction” counseling.

There’s much more at the first link. No paywall.



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