Provo man arrested for sex assault on teen

Gene Kennedy reporting A Provo man has been arrested for harboring two 14-year-old runaways and having sex with at least one of them. There's no indication the teens were held against their will, but the suspect still faces a slew of charges.

There are seven charges total against this 22-year-old suspect. Those charges not only include sex with a minor, but also possible charges for giving the two runaway teenage girls alcohol and offering them drugs.

The runaways stayed in his Provo apartment for at least two days, according to police. They may have known the suspect, Antonio Jorge Jimenez-Rodriguez.

"I think they were in way over their head, being 14 and they're dealing with adults," said Captain Cliff Argyle, spokesman for the Provo Police Department.

A neighbor, who didn't want to be identified, said there were other adults interacting with the teens--not just the suspect. Her family saw it too. "I only saw the one girl out there talking on the phone, though," she said. "My dad said that he saw a lot of people coming in and out."

According to police, the suspect had roommates living with him. "I think they just wanted to take advantage of two immature, naive young girls," Argyle said.

But so far, only one arrest. After the runaways returned home, one of them called police. "Some very specific information that the child was able to give my detective led us to believe that there may be evidence inside that home that could aid in the prosecution of that person for improper sexual conduct," Argyle said.

After arresting Jimenez-Rodriguez, police searched his apartment. That's where the plot thickens. Investigators say they found several forms of fraudulent identification. For example, they found Social Security cards with other people's names and numbers on them.

Police say their suspect is a Mexican national. He's now in the Utah County Jail on an INS hold. He could be deported if and when this case goes through the Utah court system.

Meanwhile, detectives are also paying close attention to those roommates who are living in the apartment. They want to make sure that they were not participating in any of these offenses against these teenage girls.

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