Rodger William Kelly Charged With Rape, Utah Man Says He Had Sex With Unconscious Neighbor 'To Save Her Life'

A St. George, Utah, man who was charged with the rape of his unconscious neighbor claimed that he only had sex with her in an attempt "to save her life.”

Rodger William Kelly, 50, told police that he found his 29-year-old neighbor unconscious on May 19 and began to have sex with her because “he was trying to save her life,” according to court documents. “He said he did place [his penis] inside of her to try and get her temperature up,” police said in a probable cause statement filed in 5th District Court.

Police subsequently informed Kelly that his actions constituted rape. The 50-year-old was charged Monday with a single felony count of first-degree rape, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

According to Kelly’s account of the event, he found an unnamed 29-year-old female neighbor unconscious on her front porch and brought her inside his apartment, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. He claimed that he changed her clothes and placed her into his bed, then lay down next to her.

Kelly said that he hugged the 29-year-old in an attempt to raise her body temperature, and then attempted to have sex with her, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. When police arrived to answer an unconscious person call, they discovered Kelly giving the woman CPR inside his apartment.

The unnamed woman later told police that she suspected that Kelly had raped her, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. She remembered being dressed in a set of men’s underwear and shorts, and discovered bruising on her pelvis and upper thighs, according to court documents. A hospital was unable to verify the woman’s claims because her vaginal area had been cleaned since the time of the alleged rape.

Kelly told police that the two had previously engaged in a sexual relationship, but confessed that the woman had informed him that she was no longer interested in having sex with him. The 50-year-old was arrested Friday and booked into Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility, St. George News reports. His bail was set at $25,000.