Co-founder of Ancestry.com, Daniel Taggart, appeared in court Wednesday for his arraignment after being accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
Daniel D. Taggart, 50, from Highland, was charged March 23 with two counts of object rape and one count of forcible sodomy, all first-degree felonies; one count of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse; two counts of third-degree felony dealing in harmful materials to a minor, and two counts of supplying alcohol to a minor.
The charges refer to an incident that allegedly occurred in early summer 2014, when Taggart’s daughter had a 15-year-old friend spend the night at their house. According to charges, Taggart supplied both girls with alcohol as they played games and gave the alleged victim shot glasses and sex toys as prizes for the games, charges state.
The charges state that after Taggart’s daughter fell asleep, Taggart turned on a pornographic video and sexually assaulted the alleged victim.
In court, Taggart pleaded not guilty to all eight separate charges and a pre-trial hearing was set for October 28 in 4th District Court.
“We still are hoping that we can resolve this issue outside of the court,” said Taggart’s attorney, Stephen R. Allred.
