IRON COUNTY, Utah, Feb. 28, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A Parowan man has been charged with crimes against a minor after police say he tried to arrange a meeting with a pre-teen girl.
Alexander Jay Ryan, 20, has been booked into the Iron County Jail on felony charges related to soliciting the rape of a child.
Ryan responded to a confidential informant’s decoy ad, placed on Craigslist, and seeking someone to have sex with “me and my 12yo daughter,” according to a probable cause statement. Police say Ryan asked specific questions related to the potential encounter, then made arrangements to meet, but did not keep the appointment.
Ryan later contacted the informant, saying he had been called to work, and made another appointment for the encounter, the probable cause statement says. Again, he did not show up.
The statement says that officials traced the phone number used for the exchanges back to Ryan, and arrested him.
Post Miranda, Ryan admitted he did communicate with the informant, and initially said he had been kidding, the statement said.
Later, Ryan reportedly told officers he had intended to have sex with the woman and 12-year-old girl, but saw a news report about Craigslist stings and “had a sudden change of heart.”
