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PROVO — A Provo man has been charged with raping a 14-year-old girl he met on Facebook.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez-Rodriguez, 31, was charged in 4th District Court with rape, a first-degree felony; unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a second-degree felony; and enticing a minor over the Internet, a class A misdemeanor.
Gonzalez-Rodriguez was reportedly posing as a 19-year-old on Facebook when he met the girl online in December 2012, according to court documents.
In January, the girl agreed to meet him after dark at a Provo park. The charges state that Gonzalez-Rodriguez forced off her clothing and raped her. The girl cried and told Gonzalez-Rodriguez to stop and he drove her home.
Gonzalez-Rodriguez eventually convinced the girl to meet a second time for consensual sex, according to police.
The girl told her mother about the man and the mother notified police.
Investigators were unable to identify or locate Gonzalez-Rodriguez based on his Facebook profile, which contained false information, and began reaching out to other teenage girls who were friends with him on Facebook.
The girls reported that Gonzalez-Rodriguez "tried repeatedly, without success" to meet with them too.
On Sept. 11, Provo police set up a Facebook profile for a fictitious 15-year-old girl and sent a friend request to Gonzalez-Rodriguez, which he immediately accepted. He then requested to meet with the teen, the charges state. Police agreed to meet the next day at a Provo park.
When Gonzalez-Rodriguez arrived and was confronted by officers, he claimed to have no knowledge about the supposed 15-year-old girl.
The charges state that Gonzalez-Rodriguez provided police with an identification card that belonged to his cousin, who has left the country. He was also charged Thursday with obtaining another's identifying document and presenting personal information to pose as another person, both class A misdemeanors.
Gonzalez-Rodriguez was booked into the Utah County Jail.
