Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The owner of a Cache County funeral home who admitted to arranging to meet a boy for sexual activity, and who then wrote bad checks to get out of jail, is headed to prison.
Lonnie Kent Nyman, 45, of Millville, Cache County, — the owner and president of Nyman Funeral Home — was sentenced Monday to a total of up to 20 years at the Utah State Prison on two separate cases.
Nyman pleaded guilty in two cases in June. In one, he meet a boy on the app Grindr and arranged to meet him to perform a sex act, but the boy decided against it at the last moment and left after becoming uncomfortable because of the way Nyman was acting, according to charging documents.
His wife discovered explicit photos on his iPad in April 2018, according to prosecutors, prompting Nyman to call the boy and tell him that if he was questioned, he should say that all they did was visit.
Nyman pleaded guilty in that case to dealing in materials harmful to a minor, witness tampering and obstruction of justice, third-degree felonies; and two counts of enticing a minor, a class A misdemeanor.
Related:
Funeral home owner admits arranging to meet teen for sex act
The owner and former director of Nyman Funeral Home admitted Monday to arranging to meet a boy for a sexual encounter and trying to post bail using a bad check.After his initial arrest, Nyman wrote checks for bail, but there were insufficient funds in his account. He was charged with engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, two counts of communication fraud, two counts of issuing a bad check, and unlawful use of a financial card, all second-degree felonies. He was also charged with a second count of unlawful use of a financial card, a third-degree felony.
In June, he pleaded guilty to issuing a bad check and engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity in exchange for the other charges being dismissed.
In January, the case was moved from 1st District Court in Cache County to 3rd District Court in Salt Lake County. Monday, Nyman was sentenced to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison for engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity and issuing a bad check.
For witness tampering and dealing in harmful materials to a minor, he was sentenced to up to five years in prison, according to court documents.
Third District Judge Vernice Trease ordered the sentences within each individual case to run concurrently, but for the sentences for the two cases to run consecutively, court records state.
