Roy police officer will appeal his child sexual abuse conviction
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FARMINGTON — Roy Police Officer Ryan A. Estes will appeal his conviction on a child sexual abuse charge, his attorney said Friday.
Rich Gallegos, who represented the 39-year-old Estes in his two-day trial that ended Monday, said by email that the verdict will be challenged. In a bench trial, 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda found Estes guilty of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Estes was accused of abusing a girl younger than 14.
“I respect the court’s decision but I think the evidence does not support a guilty verdict,” Gallegos said. “We will be appealing it.”
Charging documents alleged that Estes abused the girl in the fall of 2016 in Clinton. He had a position of trust with the girl. Gallegos said the charged crime was a “physical impossibility” because the family had moved from Clinton to Roy in 2015.
“Being wrong on the year did not bother the court, and the court relied on other testimony and evidence to overcome that,” Gallegos said. “I, along with many others that watched the entire trial, think (Estes) is innocent.”
Gallegos described the case as a “purely he said/she said” matter, the girl saying abuse occurred and Estes denying it. Gallegos said the girl allegedly admitted to “lying to authorities” in other matters.
“From the defense perspective, there was no actual investigation done, just a detective taking a report and the detective believing the victim,” Gallegos said.
Efforts to reach Matthew Janzen, a deputy Davis County attorney who prosecuted the Estes case, were not immediately successful.
Estes was tried on just one of five charges originally filed in October 2021. DiReda dismissed the other four charges after Gallegos argued that Davis County was an improper venue because the alleged events in those cases occurred in Roy, within Weber County jurisdiction.
Janzen filed four new charges two months ago in 2nd District Court in Ogden and Estes was re-arrested. Those charges, involving the same alleged victim and a second girl, are related to alleged events in Roy. The charges are pending before Judge Joseph Bean.
Roy police officials put Estes on leave when the original charges were filed. Police Chief Matthew Gwynn said at that time that the alleged incidents were outside the scope of the officer’s police duties.
Asked about Estes’ status in light of the conviction, a Roy Police Department spokesperson said Thursday that the officer’s employment status was being reviewed. No decision had been made public as of Friday afternoon.
Estes is held at the Davis County Jail without bail pending sentencing.