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SPRINGVILLE -- A law student from Illinois accused of traveling to Utah to meet a 15-year-old Springville girl for sex went back to jail Wednesday.
The judge increased the man's bail and took him back into custody right in the courtroom because of new charges.
Now, the 28-year-old married man is accused of carrying on a 15-month relationship with the girl, which police say turned sexual a few weeks ago.
Eric Ray was arrested earlier this month and posted $1,000 bond on Friday. But since his arrest, prosecutors added three felony charges of child sex abuse.
Ray is accused of traveling to Springville in March and having sex with the girl. Court documents state he told her he loved her and wanted to marry her. Ray then returned earlier this month to continue the relationship with her, which was discovered by the girl's mom and dad.
"Her parents got a hold of her cell phone, saw something that looked inappropriate, investigated further, got to the bottom of it and ultimately called law enforcement," said prosecutor Chad Grunander. "It really wasn't until the day before his felony first appearance that we all became aware of the extent of the relationship."
Investigators say the victim was not as forthcoming initially, after her dad noticed unusual messages on her cell phone and also her Facebook account.
"We believe it may have been innocent at first, but over a period of 15 months it progressed to the point he traveled to Utah back in March, allegedly committed these acts here, went back to finish up law school and then of course came back," Grunander said. "At that point law enforcement intercepted him."
Because Ray has no apparent ties to Utah, other than he completed his undergraduate work at BYU, prosecutors were successful in convincing the judge to increase his bail to $15,000 cash.
"I'm happy with what the judge did today," Grunander said. "I think he recognized the defendant represents a flight risk to the community. I think he is a risk to the victim here in this community and I think he approached it fairly, from the point of we treat this defendant like we treat other defendants."
KSL learned Wednesday the victim's father had threatened Ray and told him to stay away from his daughter.
Prosecutors say that Ray then created a fake Facebook identity in an attempt to maintain contact with the girl.
Unless Ray can come up with the $15,000 cash, he will remain in the Utah County Jail. He will be back in court next week.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
