6 guilty pleas to sex abuse

PROVO — A neighbor and family friend has pleaded guilty to having sexual relations with the family's young daughter, even photographing some of the abuse.

Samuel Seager, 34, pleaded guilty in 4th District Court to six felonies, including sexual abuse of a child, sexual exploitation of a minor and forcible sex abuse.

The victim, now 17, testified at a previous hearing that the sexual activity and touching began when she was 11.

She said that when she and her siblings went swimming with Seager — whom they viewed as an uncle-type figure — Seager would hold her and touch her genital area.

While watching movies, he would touch her breasts and genital area, and the girl began to see the relationship as something romantic.

Seager would give the girl dolls, flowers and stuffed animals to not tell anyone about the acts, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors alleged that during one of the sex acts, Seager took a picture of the encounter, thus the exploitation charge.

Seager also pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse of a child and two counts of forcible sex abuse, all second-degree felonies.

While the abuse case was being investigated, Provo police came across a case in progress by the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Officials there had already charged Seager with sexual exploitation of a child stemming from nearly 40 videos of child pornography they found on a network linked to Seager's computer.

When he was arrested in November 2006, Seager was living in Provo as a proctor parent and had juvenile boys in his home.

The Division of Child and Family Services happened to be at the home conducting a monthly check of the children and removed them when Seager was arrested.

In the attorney general's case, Seager pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

Seager also agreed to prison for both cases, which was part of their negotiation, said defense attorney McKay King. If the judge agrees to the concurrent sentencing agreement from prosecutors and defense attorneys, the maximum time Seager could serve would be 30 years in prison.

With the plea deal, eight other sexual exploitation charges will be dismissed at sentencing, motivating Seager to keep his guilty plea, said assistant Attorney General Paul Amann.

Seager will be sentenced on both cases Nov. 3.

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