From Deseret News archives:
Orem firm a front for porn?
Flix Club owners accused of paying 14-year-olds for sex
During a search Thursday night of the former Flix Club at 908 S. State, police found computers, cameras connected to a television, a large quantity of pornographic videos — some with as many as 20 copies — a keg of beer, alcohol and Lortab pills, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in 4th District Court.
Police conducted the search after arresting Flix Club owner Daniel Thompson, 31, and the store's co-owner, Isaac Lifferth. The two are accused of engaging in sex acts with two 14-year-old girls who told police they were trading sexual favors with the men for money, said Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards.
According to the affidavit, Thompson told the girls that the store was a front because "actually they distribute and make pornography." He also asked them if they wanted to be in a pornographic movie, but they declined.
The affidavit also states that the girls met Thompson through Lifferth, 24.
Police say Lifferth arranged the meetings and doled out the $20 payments for each 15-minute sex act session with him and Thompson.
Lifferth told police later that Thompson was not aware the girls were being paid, according to the affidavit. He also told police that they had purchased the pornography but hadn't sold or rented any.
Thompson told police the pornography was for "personal use," according to the affidavit.
In later interviews, the two girls told police the sexual meetings began when they decided they wanted money to move out of their homes. So they asked a 16-year-old female friend if she "knew of anyone who would pay for sex," according to the affidavit.
The friend, who had also had sexual relations with Lifferth, sent text messages to several people and Lifferth responded, according to the affidavit.
After sending text messages back and forth, Lifferth and the teens met and then he took them to an apartment complex in Orem. There they traded sexual favors for money and then he took them back, according to the affidavit.
Police have talked with the 16-year-old girl and said she may face punishment as well.
Lifferth later arranged a meeting with Thompson and the girls at Flix Club. The three went to a back room where they performed sex acts after Thompson assured the girls there were no security cameras, according to the affidavit.
"Both men said they thought the girls were 18," Edwards said. "According to the investigators they didn't look 18."
The illegal activity only came to light when one of the girls' mothers discovered a $20 bill in her child's room, Edwards said.
