Washington City man pleads guilty to soliciting sex with a minor

Washington County 5th District Courthouse, St. George, Utah, June 5, 2017 | Photo by Michael Durrant, St. George News

ST.  GEORGE – A 53-year-old Washington City resident who tried soliciting sex with a 13-year-old pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony count of enticing a minor over the internet.

Angelo Nielson, 53, pleaded guilty Tuesday to solicitation of a minor. Bookings photo taken in Hurricane, Utah, May 19, 2017 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Angelo Nielson agreed to plead guilty to a third-degree felony as part of a plea arrangement, and in return the state dismissed a second, identical charge. The defendant would have faced stiffer penalty had the he been found guilty in a trial.

Fifth District Judge Jeffrey Wilcox scheduled Nielson’s sentencing for Oct. 10. Wilcox ordered a presentence investigation be conducted prior to that date. The report from that investigation will influence the sentence Wilcox hands down. The investigation includes information on Nielson’s background and current situation, any criminal history and the findings of an assessment conducted to determine the chances of the defendant reoffending.

According to the probable cause statement used in Nielson’s arrest, Homeland Security Investigations special agents and detectives with the St. George Police Department were conducting an operation aimed at identifying child sex predators that would travel with the intent to have sex with a minor.

During the investigation, a Homeland Security Investigations agent located an online ad titled “Master / Dominating looking for young girl.” The agent, posing as a 13-year-old female child, responded to the ad via an email message.

While communicating with Nielson, the agent told him she might be too young for him but the defendant said he was OK with her age and began describing the types of sexual activity he was looking for.

Nielson asked “the girl” for naked photos of herself to verify she was “real” and sent several photos of himself. Additionally, he asked several questions and expressed “concern that he might go to jail if he were caught having sex with the child.”

At no time did Nielson “express any concern for the welfare of the child or her age,” court documents state.

Investigators were able to identify Nielson with information he provided to the agent during their conversations.

He was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility on a $15,000 bond but was able to post bail.

Nielson’s arrest was among several others in the Washington County area during the spring months when authorities conducted an online ad surveillance sting aimed at potential child victims.

Law enforcement in Washington County have continued to focus on prostitution and human trafficking investigations during the past year by accessing websites where sex is solicited online.

The majority of the cases have involved sexual solicitation among adults rather than children and resulted in minor sentences.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @tracie_sullivan

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

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6 Comments

  • comments August 11, 2017 at 8:19 pm

    Well, they’re more than happy to go after random internet sex perverts, whether they committed any actual crimes against children or not. People tend to do things online they wouldn’t do in life. I wonder if this guy actually showed up to go thru with this fictionalized potential encounter with the fictional underage girl? adults should not be even attempting encounters with underage, but I wonder what percentage of these desperate or lonely men that post these sort of things online wouldn’t go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity to have a sexual encounter with a young teen if presented with such opportunity. I’d really be curious to know. A lot of these young teens are hyper-sexualized and already having sex at 13-14 and such things are possible, even if illegal. The point: I hope they’re catching real predators and not just entrapping random old sad lonely men. If they’re actively hunting children or underage tho, I say lock ’em up.

    Still it boggles the mind that this state will go after these internet pervs but allowed the mormon pedophile prophet Warren Jeffs to rape little girls for years and years and years… and years. Some things I may never understand. Something about being a “mormon prophet”? I just don’t know.

  • Gcia August 11, 2017 at 10:47 pm

    If you are going to comment on things like Warren Jeffs, at least get your info correct. He is not a Mormon prophet.

    • comments August 12, 2017 at 11:09 am

      jeffs is every bit as much of a mormon prophet as “president monson”. I’d dare you to prove otherwise.

  • Dusty August 12, 2017 at 3:27 pm

    “Comments”, can YOU prove that Jeffs is a “Mormon prophet”?

    • comments August 13, 2017 at 11:10 am

      Can YOU prove that Tommy Monson is a “Mormon prophet”? Isn’t he supposed to have some wizard-like powers or something? telling the future? talking to “The Lord” or things like that? NO ONE IS A PROPHET. It’s all a scam, buddy.

  • ladybugavenger August 14, 2017 at 10:05 am

    They are coming out full force. LOL. Organized religion and their prophets I think it should be spelled profits.

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