Cedar City man arrested in underage sex sting

Cedar City man arrested in underage sex sting

(Iron County Sheriff's Office)


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CEDAR CITY — A Cedar City man has been charged with agreeing to have sex with a 13-year-old in an undercover police sting.

Ryan Leandro Lopez, 20, was charged Monday in 5th District Court with rape of a child, a first-degree felony.

On Aug. 25, Lopez began talking online with an investigator on a social media site for people with sexual fetishes, according to charging documents. The conversation moved to other apps, including an app that allowed Lopez to hide his phone number, police said.

"During the conversations the (investigator) and the suspect discussed the suspect having sex with the (investigator's) 13-year-old daughter," according to the charges.

They eventually agreed to meet at a truck stop in Parowan on Sept. 28, where Lopez said he "was OK" with the girl's age, court documents state.

Lopez was then taken into custody and interviewed. During the interview, he told police he went to the truck stop to have sex with the girl, the charges say.

Lopez is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday.

In February, eight men were caught in a similar sting involving Parowan police and other state and local law enforcement agencies.

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Ashley Imlay is an evening news manager for KSL.com. A lifelong Utahn, Ashley has also worked as a reporter for the Deseret News and is a graduate of Dixie State University.

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