This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Police allege a 23-year-old Vernal man took dozens of nude photographs and sexual videos of teenage girls he dated in 2007 and 2008.
The man was charged with 71 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, in 8th District Court on Tuesday.
The girl who appears in most of the images lived with the man for about three months in 2008, when she was 16 and he was an adult, according to charging documents. She told police that they became sexually active, but after they broke up and she moved out, he threatened to post nude images of her online.
When a detective questioned the man, he admitted photographing his ex-girlfriend in the nude and recording their sexual acts, according to the charges, but claimed he was going to wait until she turned 18 to post anything online. Police advised him that the pornographic images are illegal, regardless.
Investigators searched his laptop, phone, digital camera and MP3 player, and found dozens of pictures of his ex-girlfriend naked or partially-naked, as well as five videos.
Another girl, who was in a relationship with the man in 2007, also identified herself among the photos, according to charges.