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SALT LAKE CITY — A disgraced former board member of the Salt Lake City School District wants to serve his prison time at a federal facility instead of the Utah State Prison.
Joel Lehi Organista, 29, is seeking to serve his sentence of 15 years to life in prison at a federal facility, according to a habeas corpus petition filed earlier this month in federal court. Organista was arrested in June and later charged at both the state and federal levels. He later admitted to soliciting explicit videos from a child.
Organista pleaded guilty in state court last November to single counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticing a minor by internet or text, a second-degree felony. When the Salt Lake County judge handed down Organista's sentence in January, court records note the judge also said that Organista may serve the state prison sentence in a federal facility.
Related:
Ex-Salt Lake School Board member sent to prison for sex abuse of a child
Joel-Lehi Organista, a former member of the Salt Lake City School Board, was sentenced to a term of 15 years to life in prison Tuesday for soliciting sexual videos from a child.An attorney for Organista cites this decision in the recent petition. The document also cites safety as a reason for Organista's request to be transferred to a federal prison.
"If not appropriately supervised, Mr. Organista is at risk of serious bodily harm from other inmates due to the nature of his offense," the petition states.
An attorney who filed the petition for Organista did not return an email seeking comment Tuesday.
Organista's petition was filed in the months leading up to his sentencing hearing on the federal case. Organista pleaded guilty there in January to single counts of producing child pornography and transporting child pornography. He is scheduled to be sentenced for those charges on May 17.
Online records from the Utah Department of Corrections show Organista is currently serving time at the Utah State Prison in Draper.
The Utah Attorney General's office must offer a written response to Organista's petition by May 5, according to a court order filed Monday.
