LOGAN — A 42-year-old Smithfield man has been sentenced to serve much of the rest of his life in prison for molesting several girls for years. Joshua Coti Lippold apologized for what he did, before a judge called him a “deviant sexual offender.”
Lippold was sentenced Monday in Logan’s 1st District Court. He previously pleaded guilty to rape of a child and aggravated sexual abuse of a child, both first-degree felonies.
In September 2022, Smithfield City Police officers received a child abuse report from the Division of Child and Family Services. The report detailed how a 12-year-old girl had disclosed to her mother that she had been molested by Lippold, a family relative.
A forensic interview was later conducted at a Children’s Justice Center. During the interview, the victim described how Lippold had been molesting her for four years at his Smithfield home.
The girl told law enforcement how Lippold started touching her inappropriately after making her sign her name in an “old fashioned book that was mahogany in color.” The defendant told the girl he then possessed her soul and told her not to tell anyone.
Police officers later obtained a search warrant for Lippold’s home. Inside they found a large marijuana grow, which resulted in members of the Cache Rich Drug Task Force being called to assist. Police also found a dark red colored book, titled Da Vinci’s Demons that the victim said she had signed.
While executing the search warrant, law enforcement interviewed several other children. A 12-year-old girl disclosed that she also had been sexually assaulted numerous times for about two years. Lippold had told the child that he’d lose his job if she told anyone.
Another child talked about the book Lippold had. He believed that people who signed it gave the defendant their souls.
During Monday’s sentencing, defense attorney Cameron Cox explained how Lippold had been sexually, physically and emotionally abused as a child. He asked the court for leniency, saying he couldn’t imagine what his client went through growing up.
Cache County Deputy Attorney Ronnie Keller said Lippold was a “clear risk to children and the community at large.” He explained how the defendant claimed to hear voices telling him to “skin people alive.”
Lippold acknowledged that what he did was wrong. He said he regretted his actions every day, and no amount of saying “sorry” could fix what happened.
Judge Spencer Walsh recognized the traumatic childhood Lippold had but couldn’t overlook the damage he had caused to the victims. He sentenced the defendant to two consecutive terms of 25-years-to-life and 15-years-to-life in the Utah State Correctional Facility, but offered to recommend credit for the 774 days already served.