Utah does not have a statute of limitations for rape.
Jared Leisek, the founder of Adventures With a Purpose, has been accused of raping a 9-year-old girl, who was his cousin, when he was a teenager, according to reports.
Leisek, now 47, faces two counts of first-degree rape of a child stemming from two separate alleged incidents in 1992 in Utah, according to court documents obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
The criminal complaint, filed by prosecutors on November 3 in the 6th Judicial District Court for Sanpete County, Utah, allege Leisek was seven years older than her at the time.
Utah does not have a statute of limitations for rape.
The first incident allegedly occurred in the alleged victim's bedroom in Ephraim, Utah, around Nov. 1, 1992, according to the court document.
“Just before November 1, 1992, the victim lived in Ephraim, which is located in Sanpete County,” Deputy County Attorney Arek E. Butler wrote in the criminal complaint obtained by Inside Edition Digital. Sanpete County is where the the document was filed.
The documents alleges during the first incident "the defendant pinned the victim to the ground" and "pulled her underwear down and put his penis in her vagina."
The second alleged incident occurred at their grandparents' house in Manti, Utah, that same year, per the documents.
"During another incident that same year, the defendant and victim were at their grandparents’ house in Manti when the defendant laid on top of the victim and put his penis in her vagina," the complaint alleges.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the Utah State Courts for records and learned that Leisek he has not entered a plea. He is due back in court on Nov. 30 for a preliminary hearing, the court says.
Randy Richards, an attorney representing Leisek, told Inside Edition Digital in a statement, "this is a 30 year old case, we dispute the allegations, we say that this never happened and it is difficult to work on a case like this but we do have evidence to prove that he didn't do what she claimed."
Adventures With a Purpose is a volunteer search and rescue group with a wildly popular YouTube channel that has nearly three-million followers and 295,881,424 streams on the platform.
Group member Doug Bishop posted a lengthy video on his YouTube channel, and while he did not say anything specific pertaining to Leisek’s allegations or case, but said: “What has happened 30 years ago has come to light and is being affecting everyone involved in this. There are contracts in place, there is even legal ramifications, even with me speaking my opinion," he added. “In this scenario I have to keep it real with everyone who loved Adventures with a Purpose and who loves Adventures With a Purpose.”
Bishop vowed to continue working to help find missing loved ones.
"Moving forward there's people out there that have a story to tell," Bishop said. "There's victims out there that have a story to tell and I have been a voice for those victims. I'm going to continue to follow that passion."
Bishop did speak to People and said he was blindsided by the allegations against Leisek.
"Last couple of days have been heartbreaking for everyone involved," Bishop said. "This comes as a surprise to us all and we're all hoping that we can continue this mission to serve families."
"These allegations are serious. What allegedly happened 30 years ago should not take away from the amazing work the team has done in this world over the past two years. The [courts] will write the ending of this story. The parties involved will have their voices heard," Bishop added.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the County Attorney’s office, who is prosecuting the case, and Adventures With a Purpose, for comment, and has not heard back from any of them.
In November 2021, Inside Edition Digital spoke to Leisek about how at that time they had found the bodies of 16 missing people and counting.
“Families [of missing people] saw what it is that we were capable of,” Leisek said. “We can go out. We can search. We can find. We can float, and we can recover these vehicles. ‘We have a lost loved one. Jared, do you think that you and your organization can come help us out?’”
