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SOUTH SALT LAKE -- A man who dressed as a woman is in jail accused of molesting two boys. The mother of the boys hired the man to spiritually cleanse her home.
As police officers we see a lot of things, but this is one of the most appalling things we've experienced.
–Gary Keller, South Salt Lake Police Department
Police arrested Jose David Morales-Hernandez, who went by the name Nicole Morales. Morales-Hernandez passed himself off as a Divine Master and conducted a Voodoo-style cleansing ritual of the home.
Police say he has been known to work in Kearns and West Valley. The victims' mother invited him to come to her home in March after a friend referred Morales-Hernandez to her.
"It appears to be a cultural thing, according to his business card. Now on the business card, he lists a number of spiritual rituals that he can perform and reads numbers and different things," explained South Salt Lake police spokesman Gary Keller.
Police say before the ritual, Morales-Hernandez had the mother and her two sons, who are 12 and 13 years old, strip down to their underwear. He allegedly took the boys into their rooms and gave them massages and then sexually assaulted them.
The boys told investigators Morales-Hernandez sexually assaulted them four times during the course of three days. Police say it was the younger son who alerted his mother to what was going on.
Officers then conducted a sting operation. The mother invited Morales-Hernandez back to her home, and police arrested him when he got out of a taxi.
"As police officers, we see a lot of things, but this is one of the most appalling things we've experienced," Keller said.
Police say Morales-Hernandez admitted to giving the boys massages but denied engaging in sexual acts with them. Prosecutors have charged him with four counts of sodomy of a child and four counts of aggravated sex abuse.
Police say there could be more victims.
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Story compiled with contributions from Sandra Yi and Paul Nelson.
