ST. GEORGE — A 75-year-old St. George man who was convicted of sexual abuse of a child in 2020 is back in jail following a probation violation filed after a pornographic video was found on his cell phone – which the defendant claimed was sent by a hacker.
On April 22, John B. Archer began serving a 60-day sentence in county jail, divided into two 30-day blocks of time, after an investigation began in November 2021. Adult Probation and Parole had submitted a report alleging that Archer had violated his probation by possessing materials “exploiting children, depicting non-consensual acts or acts involving force or violence.”
The probation violation was filed in connection with a 2019 case filed following an investigation into allegations that John B. Archer had been sexually abusing a family member for three years, starting when the child was 12 years of age, according to charging documents filed with the court.
During a forensic interview with the youth, who was 16 at the time, investigators learned the molestation reportedly took place during several visits to the suspect’s home, where he would inappropriately touch the child in various rooms of the house, including in the basement.
The details of the child’s account also were corroborated by several witnesses who were interviewed by police, during which, the report states, authorities noted a pattern of behavior consistent with the child’s account.
When investigators contacted Archer to arrange an interview, the defendant said he had retained an attorney. When contacted, the attorney’s only comment was that his client “had no recollection of the allegations,” detectives noted.
Archer was arrested on Feb. 20, 2019, booked into jail and charged with three first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, offenses that were enhanced since the defendant was “in a position of special trust.”
In January 2020, Archer appeared for a resolution hearing wherein his attorney asked the court to allow his client to enter an Alford plea, which allows a defendant to maintain their innocence but admit that the state’s evidence would likely result in a guilty verdict if brought to trial. The state argued that such a plea would be inappropriate in the case – a position the court agreed with when the motion was denied.
Instead, Archer pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree felony sexual abuse of a child, while the two remaining aggravated charges were dismissed in the case.
Sentencing was postponed for over five months as a series of objections and special hearings took place in the case. On June 22, 2020, Archer appeared for a sentencing hearing, and the judge suspended the sentence of 1-15 years in prison. Instead, Archer was ordered to serve 120 days in jail and he was placed on probation with Adult Probation and Parole. The defendant also was ordered to comply with all sex-offender requirements, including registering as a sex offender for 10 years.
In November, Adult Probation and Parole submitted a report alleging that Archer had violated his probation by possessing materials “exploiting children, depicting non-consensual acts or acts involving force or violence.
The report was generated following a visit with Archer at the probation office, during which the defendant told one of the agents that his Tic Toc account had been hacked. Archer told agents the alleged hacker then sent a pornographic video to his account.
Through the course of the investigation, the defendant provided a statement that included the login information of the cell phone that accessed his account, which agents learned was a device registered in Utah.
To determine if the defendant was being truthful, Adult Probation and Parole ordered Archer to undergo EyeDetect testing, which employs a precise optical scanner to measure bio-cognitive responses in the eye to detect deception or lies by analyzing several factors, including eye movement, changes in pupil diameter, blinking and “fixation,” and uses measurements and algorithms to produce an overall credibility score.
The overall function of the test measures the cognitive effort used in deception, under the premise that a brain has to work harder when a person lies, and the more significant the lie, the greater the load the brain has to bear, and the workload creates changes in pupil diameter, eye movement and other features.
The 30-minute test was performed on Oct. 5, and according to the report, the analysis indicated the defendant was “not credible because he was deceptive regarding his involvement” in relation to the video that was sent to his account.
The findings resulted in a probation violation that was brought to the attention of the court, and on April 20, Archer was ordered to appear for a show cause hearing where the judge found that “a violation did occur,” resulting in the 60-day sentence.
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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