- Matthew Nicholas Menard, of Florida, was sentenced to one to 15 years for soliciting a Utah teen.
- Menard pleaded guilty on Nov. 26; two others, who police say were speaking to the same girl, are still facing charges.
- The girl left her school and asked for rides to Las Vegas, according to police reports, and was considered endangered until she was found about six weeks later.
SALT LAKE CITY — After a 15-year-old South Jordan girl went missing last summer, investigators found multiple conversations on her phone with a man from Miami, Florida, including conversations about meeting in Las Vegas.
That man, Matthew Nicholas Menard, 36, was sentenced on Monday in 3rd District Court to one to 15 years for criminal solicitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, in addition to one year for enticing a minor, a class A misdemeanor.
Third District Judge Heather Brereton ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
He pleaded guilty on Nov. 26 as part of a plea deal that dismissed one charge of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony, and reduced a second to the second-degree felony. It also dismissed three counts of criminal solicitation, all class A misdemeanors.
In Menard's plea statement, he admitted to soliciting the minor, even though he knew she was 15-years-old.
The teenager left school on April 21, and a page run by family and friends searching for her said she walked into a police department on June 1 almost six weeks later. They thanked community members for providing support and prayers.
Police said in a statement in May that they believe three men communicated with the 15-year-old before she left her school in American Fork and was classified as an endangered runaway. Police said she asked multiple people to help her travel to Las Vegas, and they believed she was trying to meet up with someone she encountered online.
William Glines, from Texas City, Texas, is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of attempted aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, first-degree felonies; two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; plus enticement of a minor and three counts of criminal solicitation, a class A misdemeanor.
He currently is not in custody and has a warrant issued.
Samuel Mitchell, of Herriman, is the third man charged in relation to the case. He is facing five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, and enticing a minor, a class A misdemeanor.
His next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27.
