A 31-year-old Utah father who was hailed as a hero for protecting his three young children on a winter hike last month is now facing child abuse and torture charges.

Micah Smith was commended in October for saving his family’s lives when he and his three children — an eight-year-old daughter, a four-year-old son and a two-year-old son — survived after becoming trapped in a winter storm while hiking in Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah.

The family were rescued a day after going missing. Two of the children were taken to the hospital in critical condition, while Smith and his third child were deemed to be in a fair and stable condition, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office said .

Smith was later described on a now-defunct GoFundMe page as having “bravely sacrificed himself” to protect h

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