PROVO, Utah, March 12, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — An arrest has been made in a Provo lewdness case after police appealed to the public Monday for help identifying a man caught on camera.
Leonardo Antonio Rayo Torrez, 37, was arrested at 12:04 a.m. Tuesday for investigation of two counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.
“We want to update and thank those outlets who posted our appeal,” a Provo Police statement says. “We had multiple tips from citizens about the suspect. Two tips indicated the same individual,” Torrez, the news release says.
“Using the information provided, detectives were able to locate and arrest Mr. Rayo Torrez. The exact clothing he was wearing in the video surveillance was located and Mr. Rayo Torrez admitted that he was the individual in the video surveillance. Rayo Torrez stated to detectives that his penis was exposed by accident.”
Torrez’s affidavit says the Provo resident was captured on a March 2 surveillance recording at Provo’s Deseret Industries following two girls, said to be about ages 11 and 13, then exposing himself to them.
Interviewed by police, the girls said the man “had been following them and pretending to shop and then quickly pulled his sweat pants down exposing his penis. The juvenile females were frightened and shocked and quickly alerted an adult.”
The suspect removed his jacket, tied it around his waist, and exited the store, his arrest document says.
After the public’s tips led police to Torrez, he denied having exposed himself, but “later Rayo Torrez admitted that he may have accidentally exposed his penis by scratching it or something similar. Rayo Torrez was in possession of the exact same clothing he was wearing in the video,” his affidavit says.
“It is clear from video surveillance that Rayo Torrez intentionally followed the two juveniles around the store and exposed himself when no adults were in the area. Rayo Torrez then changed his appearance and left the store while adults were actively searching for him.”
Torrez was ordered held on $2,500 bail.
