SALT LAKE CITY – A serial sexual predator at the center of a KSL Investigation has been charged in three new felony cases while incarcerated.

Joshua Homer, 30, has racked up new charges for allegedly possessing a contraband cellphone, distributing drugs and assaulting a cellmate while behind bars.

Video from a law enforcement interview with Homer in 2024 showed an investigator questioning him about whether he used a phone found in his possession inside the Duchesne County Jail, where Homer was serving part of his prison sentence.

“I haven’t used it yet,” said Homer, telling the investigator he was just holding on to it for another inmate.

When Homer learned he and the other inmate would likely be held responsible for the contraband phone, Homer told the investigator, “I might be able to say some names, but I’m not really trying to catch a charge for this.”

The investigator informed Homer, “The important thing for you to understand right now is the mere fact that we’re in a correctional facility and contraband is not allowed in a correctional facility, whatever that contraband may be.”

Homer was charged with possessing/facilitating contraband in a correctional facility – a felony – as well as a misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice. In January 2025, he pleaded guilty to lesser misdemeanor charges in the case.

Another felony charge was filed against Homer in February, this time for assault by a prisoner. According to charging documents, surveillance footage from the Tooele County Jail revealed Homer went into his cell and began “striking his cellmate,” causing injury. The incident prompted Homer’s recent transfer from the jail back to prison.

Then, last month, another felony charge was filed against Homer in Salt Lake County for distributing or arranging to distribute a controlled substance. According to court documents in that case, Homer was caught passing something to another inmate inside the Utah State Prison last August. Recent forensic testing shows it was spice paper.

“Committing new crimes while you’re in prison is the worst thing you could do,” said KSL legal analyst and longtime Utah defense attorney Greg Skordas.

He said since Homer is already serving two up-to-life sentences. It’s the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole that will determine whether and how much the new cases impact the length of his incarceration.

“Utah has what we call indeterminate sentences,” Skordas said. “For example, in this individual’s case, it’s five years to life. So, the Board of Pardons decides how much time he actually does, not a judge.”

Homer’s original parole board hearing is scheduled for October 2029.

“Any chance you have of getting out of prison is dependent on how you do while you’re in prison,” said Skordas.

Through the Failure to Protect series, the KSL Investigators exposed gaps in Utah’s criminal justice system that kept Homer free for years.

Homer was sentenced to five years to life in prison in a case involving three survivors in Davis County in September 2024. The reports belonging to two of the women had been wrongfully closed and were reopened and investigated following KSL’s reporting.

That same month, he also pleaded guilty to an amended count of attempted rape in a Salt Lake County case involving a woman who said she was assaulted by Homer in 2014. She came forward to police following KSL’s reporting on other cases against Homer.

The KSL Investigators started digging into his criminal past in 2022 and found crimes against women and girls spanning a decade but no prison time.

Homer was arrested for a probation violation the day after KSL’s first Failure to Protect report aired in December 2022 and has been in custody since.

The cases involving allegations of drug distribution and assault remain pending. The KSL Investigators reached out to the attorneys representing Homer in both cases but have not yet heard back.

This report is part of a series examining how apparent gaps at every level of Utah’s criminal justice system fail to protect Utahns.

If you have experienced sexual violence, you can access help and resources by calling Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Help Line at 1-801-736-4356 (English) or 1-801-924-0860 (Spanish). You can also call the Rape Recovery Center office line during office hours at 801-467-7282 or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for free, confidential counseling.

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Serial sexual predator at center of KSL Investigation facing new felony charges behind bars - KSLTV.com