Adventures With Purpose founder Jared Leisek arrested for child rape (2023)

Jared Leisek, founder of Adventures with Purpose, a team of search and rescue divers who help families locate missing loved ones, was arrested Jan. 5 for allegedly raping a child twice in 1992.

Leisek, 47, was taken to the Sanpete County Jail.Utahafter it was first billed for three decades in Novembercrime. It is claimed that the girl was a relative aged between nine and ten at the time, while he was seven years her senior.

A court hearing on the case was scheduled for December, but was canceled after the YouTubers attempted to livestream the proceedings, in violation of state law.

Founded in 2019, Oregon-based Adventures with Purpose has helped solve at least 23 missing persons cases, anddiscovered the body and car of teenager Kiely Rodni in Prosser Lake, California, last summer.

It is unclear if Leisek remains in police custody, and a bail amount was not included with hispublication rate.

It is also unclear why Leisek was first charged with double rape in November but only arrested in January. Dailymail.com has consulted with the Sanpete Sheriff's Department, the County Attorney's Office and the Ephraim, Utah Dispatcher on the matter.

The alleged rape took place in 1992 in the victim's bedroom at the Leisek family home in Utah.

According to an internal statementreport

Previous reports suggest that he has since told his alleged victim that he has "made peace" with "all the bad things" in his life, "including this one."

In an email exchange with the alleged victim, in which he blamed his family's history of fringe Mormonism, Leisek wrote: "I'm sorry for the things we can't change.

"It's unfortunate that the Leisek and Juhasz bloodline has put up with the shit that you and I and a lot of the other cousins ​​were put through," he continued, referring to himself and the other, larger family unit.

“Like you, I have been harassed by various people inside and outside the family. It is unfortunate when families like ours are sexually abused.

"I have tried to apologize to you and have an open conversation with you about this to answer all of your questions," he wrote.

The email was signed "Jared" and was sent from an official Adventures with Purpose email address.

He added that he had previously tried to apologize to this family member "not to save my own conscience, but to help him heal and help him with any difficulties he has had, as many of us had to learn to overcome them." in. .'

He later wrote that having a 46-year-old man "live with a child's flaws" was "unrealistic".

"Thank God we will not be condemned forever for our actions as young people and I am grateful that many cousins ​​have shared the sins that have happened to us and the sins that we have committed due to hygiene," he detected and arrested, "he continued.

Adventures with Purpose documents his efforts in hisChannel from Youtube, which has 2.8 million subscribers.

your discovery ofthe bodyMissing teen Kiely Rodni, 16, and her van opened a missing persons case that police previously believed may have been a kidnapping.

According to the group, they are "dedicated to the task of helping the families of missing loved ones." However, after Leisek's arrest, several members announced their resignation through a series of video statements posted on YouTube.

Doug Bishop, one of the volunteer divers, said the 30-year-old's alleged crime coming to light "affects everyone involved."

Josh Cantu, the organization's content and video editor, who also resigned, said: "I will live my life with integrity and morality, knowing that I did the right thing, which I hope you can support."

Leisek's attorney, Randall Richards, filed a motion to dismiss the rape case in December, though the arguments were sealed.

In 2013, Utah removed the statute of limitations for felony sex crimes. But in some cases, it could be argued that charges for sex crimes committed before 2013 should be dropped.

It is unknown if this defense is what Leisek's legal team was trying to argue.

In November, Richards told Inside Edition that his client "denies the allegations."

"We say this never happened and it's hard to handle a case like this, but we have evidence that he didn't do what she claims."