By Associated Press - Tuesday, July 11, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Salt Lake City police say prosecutors have filed charges in five rape cases after the department submitted their backlog of over 700 sexual assault evidence kits for testing.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday (https://bit.ly/2udSb1f ) three of the defendants identified by DNA are now incarcerated while the other two are believed to have left the U.S.

One of the cases dates back to 2004, three cases are from 2007 and the fifth is from 2009.

Police agencies all over the state have been working through their backlogs in recent years amid calls for all rape kits to be tested.

A study released last year found that Utah is so far behind in processing rape kits that only about one-third of the samples taken from 2010-2013 had been tested by the end of 2015.

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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, https://www.sltrib.com

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