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DISTURBING HISTORY
A FOUNDING member of Adventures with Purpose, the volunteer dive group that gained national attention after they found missing teen Kiely Rodni's body, was charged with two counts of child rape.
Jared Leisek allegedly raped a relative twice in 1992 when the victim, who is seven years younger, was between nine and ten years old, according to the criminal complaint obtained by The U.S. Sun.
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The alleged incidents happened in the victim's bedroom and in their family member's house in Utah, according to court documents, which contain explicit details.
The criminal charges were filed Friday in Sanpete County Court in Utah.
Adventures with a Purpose (AWP) didn't return The U.S. Sun's email request for comment, and Leisek couldn't immediately be reached.
AWP is an Oregon-based volunteer diving search team that's most known for finding missing teen Rodni's truck and body submerged in water at the end of August, which broke the case open.
ADVENTURES WITH A PURPOSE
AWP made headlines after finding Rodni's remains following a frantic search for the teen, who mysteriously vanished in August after a wild party in the woods near a campsite in Truckee, California.
Initial law enforcement searches missed Rodni's car and body in the water before they were ultimately found by AWP.
Leisek started the group in 2019, but it's unclear if he's still actively involved.
Social media users began questioning where Leisek was in September after he wasn't seen during the group's major breakthrough in Rodni's case.
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Since 2019, AWP has helped solve at least 23 missing person cases, some involving children, which they documented on their successful YouTube channel.
According to their YouTube About page, they are "dedicated to helping families of missing loved ones."
Doug Bishop, 38, is the lead diver and investigator in the group of 10 members.
Bishop told Fox affiliate WJBK that Leisek actually started AWP as an environmentalist group that would clean up waterways.
"[Leisek's] efforts led to a vehicle being discovered underwater here in the city of Portland, Oregon," Bishop told the outlet.
"Then he started focusing on just pulling vehicles out."
However, when one of the vehicles was discovered containing human remains, people started calling the group hoping to get answers for their own cold cases related to missing ones.
Ethan Kazmerzak was one such case after the missing 22-year-old vanished in September 2013.
When Kazmerzak's grieving mother directed Leisek and his crew to an Iowa pond "working off her hunch," they found his body in 2020.
Read More on The US Sun
Read More on The US Sun
According to their website, support from fans and concerned viewers, who watch their documentaries and make purchases and donations, ultimately make it possible for the AWP team to provide free service to families.
In the spirit of being transparent, they explained that anytime viewers watch an ad on their videos posted to YouTube or Facebook, the team receives on average $0.005 (half a cent) - which helps make their services affordable to those in need.