Sandy business manager held on sodomy counts

The manager of a Sandy business was arrested last week after police say he forced an employee with a diminished mental capacity to have sex with him on multiple occasions at the business.

Juan Rodrigo Zermeno, 30, was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Tuesday for investigation of five counts of forcible sodomy, all first-degree felonies.

On several occasions, Zermeno forced a 20-year-old man, whom he had authority over, to perform sexual acts, police say. The victim has a learning disability with an IQ reportedly under 60, which is at a sixth-grade level, according to Salt Lake County Jail documents.

The sex acts occurred at several places at the business including the main office, bathroom and outside near a garbage bin, according to jail records.

"(Redacted) told Juan 'no' during each incident, but Juan had threatened (redacted) that (redacted) would go to jail and or lose his job if he told anyone about what they were doing," jail documents stated.

Investigators believe Zermeno forced the victim into committing a sex act on at least five different occasions. Detectives say Zermeno knew the victim was a "slow learner and could only perform janitorial duties," according to jail records.

Zermeno was being held Thursday in the Salt Lake County Jail on $100,000 bail.

A check of Utah State Court records shows Zermeno plead no contest to reckless driving in 2005 but did not have any violent offenses.

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