LOGAN, Utah — A Richmond man is facing multiple felony charges after a vigilante posed as an underage girl online.
According to court documents filed this week, Logan Police received a report back in February from a citizen who had posed as a 15 year-old girl online and arranged to meet with a man in Cache County under the pretense of having sex.
The citizen waited for the man, later identified as Alexander Joseph Chesley, 28, and confronted him, recording the interaction on video. The video and copies of the chat logs, which included explicit photos sent by Chesley, were included with the report. The citizen's identity was not indicated in the probable cause affidavit, nor was the meeting location.
On March 22, Chesley was brought in for questioning, where he admitted post-Miranda to chatting and agreeing to meet with the citizen for sex, under the pretense that they were an underage girl.
He also admitted to looking up child sex abuse materials online, prompting officers to execute a search warrant for his phone, which was found to contain multiple explicit images.
His internet search history also contained numerous search terms and keywords used for locating child sex abuse material.
Chesley is charged with 10 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor and one count of Enticing a Minor by Internet or Text. His first court appearance is scheduled for April 6.
