Utah ex-cop accused of posing as porn producer pleads not guilty

A former Tremonton police officer accused of creating a fake pornography email account and convincing a teen girl to send him nude photos pleaded not guilty to charges Wednesday.

Jeremy Rose, 37, is charged in Ogden's 2nd District Court with 16 charges: ten 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.

Rose appeared in court Wednesday and waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered his not-guilty pleas. He'll appear in court again Sept. 23 for a pretrial conference.

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 later told investigators 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 purchased 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 nude or partially nude images of the girl 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.

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.

Tremonton police officials said Rose has not been employed with them since last July. The criminal charges were originally filed against him in Box Elder County's court, but were transferred to Ogden after the judge in that county recused himself because he is acquainted with Rose through his police employment.

jmiller@sltrib.com

Twitter: @jm_miller