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SALT LAKE CITY — A long-haul truck driver who served more than a decade in prison for child sex crimes has been arrested in Utah and charged with trying to convince an undercover officer posing as a teenage boy to travel the U.S. with him and engage in sex.
Joseph Gendreau, 59, of West Jordan, was arrested Thursday in Washington County and formally charged Friday in St. George's 8th District Court with attempted human trafficking of a minor, a second-degree felony, and three counts of enticing a minor, a class A misdemeanor.
The investigation began Wednesday when a police officer working with the Internet Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking task force posed as a young man on the Grindr app looking to meet people in the St. George area.
The officer received a message from Gendreau who "stated he was a truck driver from Minnesota and his truck broke down so he was staying in St. George for a few days," according to a police affidavit. The officer replied that he was 16 and liked video games.
In subsequent messages, Gendreau told the undercover officer posing as a teen boy that he could travel with him and that he was "looking for a son," according to the affidavit.
"I asked him what it would be like to be his son. He stated, 'We would just have a long-term relationship,'" the affidavit states. "I pay all the bills and expenses, you just be yourself."
Police say Gendreau told them that another 16-year-old boy, who was homeless, had previously traveled with him for several years. Gendreau offered to buy the undercover officer his own Xbox and take care of his living expenses, and proposed they could engage in sexual acts, the affidavit says.
The officer arranged to meet Gendreau at a restaurant in St. George where he was arrested.
Investigators learned that he was previously convicted out of state on charges of sexual assault and lewdness in 1990 and sexual assault on a teen in 2000, the affidavit states.
"Joseph stated he had been arrested in the past for child sex crimes and did 13 years in prison. Joseph admitted that he met (the other boy) in Minnesota when he was 16 and developed a relationship with him and was sexually active with him," according to the affidavit.
