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LOGAN — A Magna man was arrested after police say he traveled to Logan to meet up with a police investigator who he believed to be the father of a 9-year-old child he intended to rape.
According to a police booking affidavit, a Logan investigator began posting to online forums in January, seeking "a third person to engage in sexual activity" with the posting persona and his daughter. Jesus Garcia, 22, responded to the post, police say, and when told the daughter in question was 9 years old, Garcia replied, "I've always wanted to do something with someone that age."
Garcia agreed to meet the undercover officer at a public place in Logan on Feb. 7 and was asked to bring a gift for the child, according to the affidavit.
When Garcia arrived, police say he pulled his car up to the window of the undercover officer's vehicle, with a pink stuffed animal in the trunk, and agreed to follow the officer to where he was told the child was waiting.
"Officers then moved in and arrested Jesus without incident," the booking report says.
Garcia's phone was searched, and police say they found at least 10 images depicting the sexual abuse of children and numerous chats in which Garcia "expressed sexual interest in children."
Garcia is being held without bail in Cache County Jail. He has since been charged with multiple crimes relating to both the meet-up with the investigator and the evidence police say they found on his phone. Those charges include 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; two counts of enticing a minor, a second-degree felony; and two counts of attempted sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony.
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Collin Leonard
