Sex-photos case grows

OREM — Photos allegedly stored on an Orem man's cell phone initially led to criminal charges against him of sexually abusing young girls. Now, those photos are the basis of federal charges of creating child pornography.

A federal grand jury handed down an indictment July 6 against Jacabo Javier Rivera, 32, on one count of "production of child pornography," based on nearly a dozen sexually explicit photographs found in Rivera's cell phone, said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City.

Rivera is now in federal custody, but all other details about the grand jury proceedings are sealed.

The federal case delayed proceedings Tuesday in the sexual abuse case filed in Utah's 4th District Court, where Rivera is charged with multiple counts of rape of a child, aggravated sex abuse of a child and sodomy on a child, all first-degree felonies. The two cases will proceed independently, with a federal trial in September and a preliminary hearing for the district court charges in October.

Rivera was arrested April 25 after a former girlfriend found pictures of alleged sexual acts stored in the phone's memory. After going to police with the phone, the woman reportedly learned the children were her daughter and niece, who had been left in Rivera's care.

The case was picked up on a federal level through coordination with the local police department, Rydalch said.

"We coordinate a lot on these types of cases," she said. "We can actually do a dual prosecution . . . which allows us to get pretty significant sentences on child pornography."

If convicted on the charge of creating pornography, Rivera would face a maximum of 30 years in federal prison and a firm minimum of 15 years because the federal system has no parole.

Sentencing in the district court would mean an indeterminate sentence with a mandatory minimum of six, 10 or 15 years to life.

Because the U.S. Attorney's Office has no ability to prosecute crimes like sexual assault, rape or sodomy, working with local courts on these types of cases is common.

"We have no authority to charge sexual assault, unless it happens on an Indian reservation, but we do have pretty strong statutes to work with when it comes to producing child pornography, so quite often we coordinate with the district attorneys," Rydalch said.

Rivera was scheduled to appear before Judge Lynn W. Davis Tuesday morning for a preliminary hearing. However, because Deputy Utah County Attorney Donna Kelly said she knew Rivera was going to be charged federally, she was willing to push the hearing back in order to work out scheduling issues between the two cases. However, she said her case would still be going forward, regardless of the federal litigation.

"The victims' families would like to see this case keep moving forward," Kelly said. "It's stressful to have the case pending . . . our goal is to keep it moving forward."

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