- Michael Kleiner, 32, a Utah teacher, was charged with soliciting a minor.
- He faces charges including solicitation of a minor and distributing harmful materials to a minor.
- Kleiner allegedly contacted undercover officers posing as teen girls in separate investigations.
ST GEORGE — A middle school teacher in southern Utah has been arrested and accused of soliciting teen girls for sex.
Michael Kleiner, 32, of Santa Clara, was charged Friday in 4th District Court with criminal solicitation of a minor, a first-degree felony; 10 counts of distributing harmful materials to a minor, a third-degree felony; and enticement of a minor, a class A misdemeanor.
Kleiner was listed on Snow Canyon Middle School's website and his own Facebook page as an English as a second language teacher. By Friday afternoon, his information had been removed from the school website.
The investigation began June 24 when Kleiner made contact with an undercover police officer in Utah County posing online as a 17-year-old girl, according to charging documents.
"Suspect indicated he was fine with (the) persona's age and moved the conversation to a different online platform. On the new platform, (the) suspect used the username, 'Spiff Kleinz,'" the charges state.
Over the course of several days, Kleiner continued messaging the undercover officer on Telegram and "discussed his desire to engage in sexual intercourse," according to the charges. "Throughout the conversation, (the) suspect sent numerous sexual photos and recordings to (the officer)."
Also, during their conversations, Kleiner said "he works as a teacher," the charges state.
Investigators learned that Kleiner is also a suspect in a similar case in West Jordan, where another officer posed as a 15-year-old girl, according to the charges.
Kleiner sent someone he thought was a teen girl in West Jordan sexual texts and inappropriate pictures of himself, a police booking affidavit states.
When he was taken into custody on Wednesday in southern Utah, Kleiner "admitted that he chatted with at least two underage female minors in a sexual manner," the charges state.
"Michael stated that he was only talking to the underage girls from Lehi and West Jordan because he believed that there was no way that he could meet with them," according to the affidavit.
Additional charges will be reviewed by West Jordan police, but the decision was made to arrest him this week.
"Because Michael is confirmed as a school teacher working with children of similar age ranges, it was decided to locate and physically arrest Michael. The risk to the community to have a person in a position of trust and care of children with a drive to cause the children to engage in sexual activities and have children send him child abuse materials was too great. To let a person with this type of sexual deviancy back into the public would only endanger society and all children."
