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PROVO — A staff member at the Utah State Hospital arrested this week and accused of showing two teen boys explicit images of himself is now accused of having child pornography on his phone.
Marisela Kelaokalani Sitake, 29, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Monday for investigation of four counts of dealing in harmful materials to a minor.
Police began investigating on Nov. 20 when officers were told that Sitake, a staff member at the Utah State Hospital who works with juvenile boys, showed two boys — each under the age of 16 — a naked picture of himself and then a video of him having sex, according to a police booking affidavit.
"(The boys) reported that Manisela was trying to show them a video and he was scrolling fast. They reported that Manisela slowed his scrolling and then stopped on a picture and a video," the affidavit alleges. "After the juveniles saw the picture and video, Manisela made the boys promise not to tell anyone. He made them swear on their mom's life and pinky promise."
Surveillance video collected by detectives shows Sitake sitting at a table with one boy on either side of him as they look at his phone, according to police.
"A couple seconds later you see both of the boys stand up and cover their mouth and walk away from the table. You see Manisela then put his head down in his arm. The boys then come back over to Manisela and you see them make a pinky promise with Manisela," according to the affidavit.
When interviewed by police, Sitake said he accidentally showed the boys a naked picture of himself and that "he felt embarrassed and made the boys promise not to tell anyone," but he denied ever showing the boys a video, the affidavit says.
After his arrest, detectives obtained a search warrant for Sitake's phone. On Thursday, they found multiple videos of young boys engaged in sex acts, a second police booking affidavit alleges.
"The videos were not in his regular camera roll. It was in his hidden images camera roll. To access the hidden images, it requires another passcode you need to enter. In the hidden images it was full of sexual material. There were multiple videos that appeared to be child sex abuse material," police wrote in the affidavit.
Sitake was arrested Thursday for investigation of an additional three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Formal criminal charges have not been filed in the case as of Thursday.
