ST. GEORGE — A call to 911 reporting a naked man on a balcony Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara landed a registered sex offender in jail, a requirement that was set in place in February following the suspect’s release from federal prison.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, officers arrived at the scene shortly after 4 p.m. and spoke to the caller, who said she had gone outside to retrieve her young daughter from the backyard, and as she did so, she saw the man standing on the balcony completely naked.
According to the report, the suspect was standing on a balcony “fully nude with his genitals and buttocks exposed.”
Santa Clara-Ivins Police Sgt. Reed Briggs told St. George News the caller yelled at the man, later identified as 45-year-old Nathan Michael Hill, at which point he dropped down on his stomach and then ran back into his residence.
According to the report, after speaking with the caller, one of the officers observed the suspect “again, fully naked with his buttocks and genitals exposed standing outside on the balcony.” The officer yelled at the man and asked him what he was doing. As soon as the suspect saw the officer, the man turned and went back into the residence.
Briggs said he doubted Hill saw the officer before being confronted
The officer spoke with Hill, noting that Hill said he was outside naked and felt like he was “out of his mind.” He also told officer he had recently registered as a sex offender, the report states.
Briggs added that officers detected a strong odor of alcohol while speaking with Hill, who was subsequently arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility.
Officers confirmed that Hill was a registered sex offender in the Santa Clara-Ivins area, and as such, he was booked into jail facing two third-degree felony offenses, including lewdness by a sex offender and lewdness with prior offense involving a child.
Briggs went on to say both lewdness charges were enhanced to a felony due to the suspect’s prior conviction and sex offender status.
Hill was required to register as a sex offender following his release from federal prison on a 2016 case that was initially filed in 5th District Court involving 17 second-degree felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor. His arrest in that case came after an investigation set in motion by a tip to the Cyber Tip Line indicating images depicting child pornography were uploaded to an email account.
The sexually explicit images reportedly involved a toddler approximately 1-2 years old being sexually abused by an unidentified male.
The information was sent over to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, and agents determined the email account belonged to Hill.
During a subsequent search of the his home, the report states, ICAC agents recovered a digital media card containing 20 photos depicting child pornography, as well as photos of young girls in bathing suits that appeared to have been taken “covertly,” the agent noted in the report.
Four months later the case was picked up by federal prosecutors. Hill was indicted on one felony count of possession of child pornography, and the state case was dismissed.
The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge in March 2017, wherein he admitted to possessing media containing child pornography and also admitted to using a computer to transfer the images in interstate commerce.
On Aug. 8, 2017, Hill was sentenced to serve 60 months in federal prison and was turned over to the U.S. Marshal’s Office to be transported to a federal correctional facility. He was released at the beginning of February 2021.
Following Sunday’s arrest, the suspect was released from jail that evening after posting bond. He was formally charged with the two felony offenses Monday.
Ed. Note: A new Utah law generally prohibits the release of arrest booking photos until after a conviction is obtained.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. 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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