St. George Marine found with hundreds of pornographic videos showing child rape

ED. NOTE: This report includes details that may not be appropriate for all readers. Discretion is advised.

ST. GEORGE — Authorities have arrested a 24-year-old St. George Marine who was allegedly found in possession of hundreds of pornography files containing images and videos of children being raped.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, or ICAC, forwarded the case of sexual exploitation of a minor to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for investigation.

Richard Anthony Vidal, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted July 27, 2015 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News
Richard Anthony Vidal, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted July 27, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s bookings, St. George News

In April 2015, the Washington County Investigations Division served a search warrant for the residence and computers of Richard Anthony Vidal, located on the 1000 North block of 1600 West in St. George, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in support of the arrest.

Authorities located numerous electronic items in the home belonging to Vidal. Once the items were seized, a forensic search of Vidal’s Apple MacBook Pro laptop was conducted.

“This laptop contained hundreds of files, images, and some videos of prepubescent children being raped, sodomized, bound and gagged, raped by adult toys, and children having sex with other children,” according to the statement of probable cause.

Authorities also found evidence of Vidal trying to share child pornography, the statement said.

Once it was determined Vidal was, in fact, in possession of the pornographic material, investigators were unable to locate him due to Vidal being sent back to the Marine Corps and then going to Colombia to visit his father.

Vidal turned himself in to authorities on Monday. He invoked his right not to answer any questions without an attorney present.

Vidal was arrested, booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility, and charged with five second-degree felonies for sexual exploitation of a minor.

Vidal was released from custody Tuesday on $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Aug. 3.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

 

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18 Comments

  • Mean Momma July 28, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    What a sick perv! Send him to fight ISIS and don’t let him come back! What a waste of space!

  • 42214 July 28, 2015 at 6:32 pm

    Semper Fi

  • fun bag July 28, 2015 at 7:28 pm

    what’s all this?

  • Real Life July 28, 2015 at 10:18 pm

    Free Basers future cell mate.

    • Free Parking July 29, 2015 at 10:13 am

      Tell us all about it REAL DORK

    • Free Parking July 29, 2015 at 10:57 pm

      You know all about free basing eh.? You should try rehab

  • Free Parking July 29, 2015 at 12:18 am

    Is he still temple worthy.?

    • Mattman July 29, 2015 at 3:14 pm

      What does that have to do with any of this? Just because he lives in Southern Utah, he is LDS? And even if he is, we all know the answer to your question because of the scriptures letting it be know very plainly that he is not.

      • 42214 July 29, 2015 at 8:47 pm

        What? You say even if he is LDS the scriptures say he’s not. You need to run for office because you’re a master of doubletalk.

        • Free Parking July 30, 2015 at 10:42 am

          42214 tell us all about it. You should run for president because nobody cares what you think

      • Free Parking July 29, 2015 at 10:54 pm

        Hey Matt chill out I asked a simple question. LOL.!

    • fun bag July 29, 2015 at 3:45 pm

      he might be. if he was one of the mormons up in hildale he would get promoted to bishop or stake president…

  • sagemoon July 29, 2015 at 8:23 am

    Sick, sick, sick, sick freak and scum bag. Castrate him.

  • Free Parking July 29, 2015 at 10:20 am

    All I can do is laugh after seeing all these Mormons with their bumper stickers.. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS… LOL.! Well let’s see how long it takes for the local to contact the LDS church for their opinion on this.. They do everything else

  • aviatormh July 29, 2015 at 9:10 pm

    I’ve only been reading stgnews for a couple of months now so can someone help me out? Are we only bad mouthing Mormons here or can I actually post something relevant to the story?

    • Avatar photo Joyce Kuzmanic July 30, 2015 at 6:23 am

      Please do, Aviator 😀
      ST. GEORGE NEWS
      Joyce Kuzmanic
      Editor in Chief

      • DRT July 30, 2015 at 8:26 am

        It certainly appears that this comment section has been taken over by trolls and management just sits back and watches it. Very seldom are there any relevant comments made, and when they are, the trolls jump on board and bash the poster.
        For the most part, the comment sections just aren’t worth reading anymore.

    • sagemoon July 30, 2015 at 8:19 am

      I come here to call the losers in the articles names (it’s a good stress reliever) and occasionally make a somewhat intelligent observation or compliment the writer. I don’t Mormon bash. I would love to hear what you have to say.

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