Charges: Ex-cop posed as porn producer to get teen's nude pics

A former Tremonton police officer is facing sexual exploitation of a minor charges and other charges, accused of creating a fake pornography email account and convincing a teen girl to send him nude photos.

Jeremy Rose, 37, was charged in Box Elder County's 1st District Court with 15 charges Thursday: nine counts of second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of third-degree felony voyeurism, one count of third-degree felony dealing in materials harmful to minor, one count each of third-degree felonies obstruction of justice and communications fraud, along with one count of misdemeanor stalking.

He is expected to be in court next Monday for an initial appearance.

The Utah Attorney's General Office began investigating Rose last May. According to a probable cause statement filed in court, Rose allegedly told a then-15-year-old girl that she could make some money by submitting photos to the pornography website, Brazzers.

Rose then allegedly told the teen to send nude and partially nude photos to an email address that he said belonged to a Brazzers employee named "Tom." But prosecutors allege that the email account was fake — created by Rose to solicit the photos from the teen.

The teen told investigators later that she sent about 150 nude photos of herself to "Tom," who told her that the pictures would not be posted online, but would be purchases in private by individuals. She did receive some money from the photos from Rose, prosecutors allege, under the guise that Rose was the go-between for the teen and "Tom."

Investigators later found 197 images of the girl nude or partially nude in an online file hosting site, Drop Box. The Drop Box account was registered under the email address Rose is accused of creating, according to prosecutors.

According to the probable cause statement, Rose confessed to his wife about the alleged crimes.

"Investigators were informed … by Rose's wife that Rose had confessed to her and to his sister and other family members that he had manipulated [the teen] into sending photos to a fake company," an investigator wrote. "He said this was to 'protect' [the] minor."

Prosecutors also allege that Rose had thousands of images of the teen that had been surreptitiously taken of her while she was in her bedroom after a shower or bath.

Rose was arrested last June on suspicion of one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, but charges were not filed until Thursday.

Tremonton police officials said the man has not been employed with them since last July.

jmiller@sltrib.com

Twitter: @jm_miller