Cedar City man arrested for sexual relationship with teen

CEDAR CITY – Thursday, Cedar City Police were dispatched to a report of a disorderly conduct-type incident at the Cedar City Public Library. After investigating the totality of the circumstances, officers arrested Jonathan Geminiano, 22, of Cedar City, for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, child abuse and unlawful detention.

Jonathan Geminiano of Cedar City, Utah, booking photo posted July 31, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Iron County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News
Jonathan Geminiano of Cedar City, Utah, booking photo posted July 31, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Iron County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

According to a probable cause statement filed by Officer Mike Bleak in connect with the arrest, after being called to the library, police determined that Geminiano had been involved in an incident involving a 16-year-old girl.

“During the course of the investigation of that incident,” Bleak said in the statement, “it became evident that there was more to the relationship between 22 year old Jonathan and the 16 year old female.”

Cedar City Police conducted a forensic interview with the 16-year-old girl. She told police she had begun having a sexual relationship with Geminiano when she was 14 years old and he was 20. The relationship continued until she recently broke it off.

“After speaking with several witnesses and reviewing digital evidence, it was apparent that sexual intercourse was taking place between Jonathan and the then 14 year old female on a regular basis,” Bleak wrote in the statement.

On Wednesday,  Geminiano and the 16-year-old girl were in the area of her home in Cedar City when a fight occurred between them, according to the statement. During the course of the fight, Geminiano held the girl in a vehicle and wouldn’t allow her to leave or go home, causing bruising to the girl’s arm.

“These bruises are consistent with finger  marks from being held in the vehicle,” Bleak wrote in the statement.

Geminiano maintained that he was not familiar with the girl, the statement said.

Geminiano was arrested and booked into the Iron County Jail on three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, third-degree felonies; child abuse, a class-A misdemeanor; and unlawful detention, a class-B misdemeanor.

At the time of this publication, Geminiano has been released from the Iron County Correctional Facility on $10,000 bail.

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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4 Comments

  • mission August 1, 2014 at 6:54 pm

    Well, again, just like the guy having sex with the dog, this guy had better have served a good mission somewhere and is current with tithing if he hopes to have any leniency with any sentencing.

    • chupacabra August 4, 2014 at 4:55 pm

      I was hoping that you could have come up with something better than repeating your comment from a beastiality news story. Believe it or not, not everyone else holds so much hostility towards an institution. Your only view of the world is so skewed, you can’t see outside of your self imposed prison of malevolence.

  • Cedar August 1, 2014 at 7:02 pm

    Guys shooting guns at people and having sex with animals and children not to mention recent stories about drugs and domestic violence. Whoever said Cedar is a good place to raise kids must be stupid.

  • relawded August 2, 2014 at 10:16 pm

    this is some b.s. no battery charge? only $10,000 bail? one can have that bail amount for possession of meth and not even harm anyone. this justice system is so asinine in iron county.

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