When Ogden police walked into a backyard on November 15, they thought they were following up on a shoplifting case.
Instead, as reporter Brian Will describes it, officers opened a shed and walked straight into a child-abuse nightmare.
Five children – including an infant – were locked inside, with the door secured from the outside.
And if it hadn’t been for police body cameras, the public might never have seen just how bad it really was.
Call About Shoplifting Leads to a Much Darker Discovery
According to Brian Will’s report for KUTV, this all started as a shoplifting follow-up.
Officers with the Ogden Police Department were tracking down information connected to a shoplifting case involving a woman who had already been arrested.
As Will explains, they were led to the home of 36-year-old Wilber Rojas, who also had an active felony warrant.
Will notes that Rojas had given officers false information about his wife’s arrest, which pushed police to apply for and serve a search warrant on his property.
On paper, this looked like a fairly typical warrant service tied to theft and a wanted suspect.
What officers found in the backyard shed was anything but typical.
“Why Are They Locked in the Shed?” – Bodycam Audio Tells the Story
KUTV obtained exclusive body-camera footage, and Brian Will says the moment officers opened that shed has shaken everyone who’s seen it.
In the video, officers walk up to the small structure and call out:
“Police. Anyone inside?”
Seconds later, you can hear the alarm in an officer’s voice:
“Why are they locked in the shed? They shouldn’t be in there.”
Will reports that officers had to cut a cord that was securing the shed door from the outside.
Once they broke it, children began to emerge from the cramped space.
One officer can be heard gently saying,
“Come here, sweetheart,”
as they guide one of the kids out.
Will reports that the five children ranged in age from just a few months old to six years old.
An infant. Toddlers. A young child. All locked in a shed like they were objects to be stored, not human beings to be protected.
Former Officer: Locked Door Was a Serious Fire Hazard
To help explain what police were dealing with, Brian Will spoke with Chris Bertram, a retired law-enforcement officer.
Bertram says one detail from the bodycam footage chilled him:
“The fact that door was secured from the outside, that scares me.”
He tells Will that from a safety standpoint, this wasn’t just neglect — it was a potential death trap.
If the shed had caught fire, those kids would have had no way out.
Bertram points out that you can see the officers’ initial reaction in the footage.
He says it clearly caught them off guard.
Will reports that Bertram believes officers probably started the search thinking primarily about the wanted suspect and the case.
But once the shed opened and the children appeared, everything changed.
“You saw these officers, it caught them off guard,” Bertram explains. “I think they still wanted to continue searching but quickly realized, ‘We got to take care of these kids.’”
It’s a reminder that, in real time, officers have to make decisions on the fly — and in this case, they made the right call by dropping everything to focus on the children’s safety.
The Children: No Resources, Nowhere To Go
Brian Will also spoke with child-abuse advocate Caroline Ashton, who works with vulnerable kids in cases just like this.
Ashton tells Will that what happened in that Ogden backyard is not some distant, rare incident.
“This happens right in our backyard,” she says.
Will reports that Ashton was especially concerned about how abandoned these five children really were.
She explains that they were left with no resources, nowhere to go, and essentially forced to look after themselves.
“The kids were left with no resources, nowhere to go, and were left to watch themselves,” she tells Will, calling it a highly dangerous environment.
When children that young are essentially locked away and ignored, the risk isn’t just physical harm from the shed.
It’s emotional trauma, developmental damage, and long-term trust issues that can follow them for years.
Suspect Found Hiding in a Vehicle, Taken Down With a Bean-Bag Round
After getting the children out of the shed, officers still had to deal with Wilber Rojas.
Brian Will says that once the kids were safe, officers shifted their attention back to the suspect and continued their search of the property.
They eventually found Rojas hiding in a vehicle in the backyard.
The bodycam footage shows officers deciding how to safely take him into custody.
You can hear one say,
“Yeah, let’s do a bean bag.”
Will explains that police then used a non-lethal bean-bag round to force Rojas out of the vehicle.
A loud bang can be heard as the bean-bag is fired.
From there, officers order Rojas to show his hands and take him into custody without using deadly force.
According to Will’s report, Rojas is now in the Weber County Jail, facing:
- Five counts of intentional child abuse, and
- Two misdemeanor charges.
It’s a serious set of charges, and based on what the bodycam footage shows, few people will be surprised a prosecutor went that far.
Where Do Children Go After a Rescue Like This?
One of the most important questions Brian Will raises in his report is what happens to kids after they’re pulled out of situations like this.
When law enforcement steps in, children don’t just magically land in a safe, stable environment.
They need medical checks, interviews, counseling, and a long list of practical and emotional support.
That’s where Children’s Justice Centers come in.
Speaking to Will outside the Utah Children’s Justice Center, Ashton explains that these centers are often the best option after a rescue.
“The best option we have seen so far is a Children’s Justice Center,” she says. “They can be taken there, and it’s really a one-stop shop for a lot of different resources for kids.”
Will notes that centers like this operate across Utah, offering a safe, child-friendly environment where kids can be interviewed, evaluated, and helped without being bounced around from office to office.
It’s one of the small bright spots in an otherwise grim story – there are places designed specifically to help kids heal from this kind of abuse.
Why Bodycams – And Neighbors Who Pay Attention – Matter
There’s a bigger lesson in Brian Will’s reporting that goes beyond this one backyard in Ogden.
First, this case shows how crucial police bodycam footage has become.
Without those cameras, the public would likely only hear a dry line in a police report: “Five children located in outbuilding.”
Instead, we see the reality:
The locked door.
The cord being cut.
The tiny voices.
The officer gently saying, “Come here, sweetheart.”
That human detail makes it harder for anyone to look away or minimize what happened.
Second, this story is a reminder that you never really know what is happening behind closed doors – or inside sheds – in your own neighborhood.
As Ashton said, “This happens right in our backyard.”
That doesn’t mean everyone should become a vigilante or call the police over every little thing.
But if something feels wrong – constant yelling, kids who never seem to come inside, strange patterns of neglect – it’s better to report it and be wrong than stay silent and find out later that children were suffering.
A Case That Shouldn’t Be Forgotten
Brian Will’s reporting lays out a clear timeline:
A shoplifting investigation.
A wanted suspect.
A search warrant.
A shed door secured from the outside.
Five children, the youngest just a few months old, locked inside.
Retired officer Chris Bertram highlights how close this came to being a fire tragedy.
Child-abuse advocate Caroline Ashton reminds us that these kids were abandoned with no support and that many like them rely on Children’s Justice Centers for help.
And Will connects it all through that bodycam footage and follow-up reporting, making it impossible to dismiss what happened as just another crime story.
Cases like this are exactly why child-abuse laws exist and why child-welfare systems, however imperfect, are so necessary.
No child should ever be treated like a problem to be hidden in a shed until the adults are done with whatever they’re doing.
If there’s any good that can come from a story this disturbing, it’s that more people will stay alert, more officers will keep those cameras rolling, and more communities will support the resources that help children rebuild their lives after the door finally opens.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, John developed a love for the great outdoors early on. With years of experience as a wilderness guide, he’s navigated rugged terrains and unpredictable weather patterns. John is also an avid hunter and fisherman who believes in sustainable living. His focus on practical survival skills, from building shelters to purifying water, reflects his passion for preparedness. When he’s not out in the wild, you can find him sharing his knowledge through writing, hoping to inspire others to embrace self-reliance.
