Trainer sentenced in sexual abuse case

The Spectrum.com
1st February, 2012

ST. GEORGE - A personal fitness trainer convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy she worked with during 2008 and 2009 was sentenced to a minimum of one and maximum of 15 years in prison Tuesday during a hearing in 5th District Court.

Suni Faith Andersen, 36, of St. George pleaded guilty in November to two counts of forcible sexual abuse as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors agreed to dismiss three additional counts of forcible sexual abuse and five counts of forcible sodomy.

"This is a picture of my son when he was 14 years old," the victim's mother said while holding up a photo during Tuesday's hearing. "Look. Suni, look! Does this look like someone a 34-year-old adult woman would want to have a relationship with?"

The victim, now 16, and his family are not being identified in agreement with The Spectrum's policy regarding victims of sexual abuse, but the court took note of the family's claims that their identity is widely known in the community.

"I have to walk through the halls of my high school knowing that people know what happened, wondering what they're thinking," the boy told Judge Eric Ludlow.

The boy said some girls have wanted to date him because he is "experienced" and when other boys have questions about sexuality they say "just ask (him)," he said.

[ed. I had to laugh at the 'victimhood' of the boy. Probably led by the nose by his mother who could smell compensation...]