SALT LAKE CITY, Utah—If you saw this story in a movie you'd probably think it was the result of some Hollywood screenwriter's warped imagination, but a former Utah police officer actually is charged with passing himself off as a casting director for the Brazzers porn site in order to convince a 15-year-old girl to send him nude photos of herself. But wait: It gets better (i.e. worse)! According to court documents, the officer, Jeremy Rose, is "one of the sexual abuse investigators in Box Elder County."
And in a twist that really turns this tale into Hollywood fare, Officer Rose was apparently communicating with the victim while simultaneously going to great lengths to create "fictitious contacts, email and social media accounts to misrepresent himself as Brazzers employees." Yes, to fully realize his scheme, prosecutors say Rose created several fictitious characters—including “Tom Warington” and “Jennica/Jenika Sorenson."
According to Salt Lake City's Fox13, a statement of probable cause filed with the court by the county attorney last Thursday states that "a female minor allegedly was contacted by someone who identified themselves as working for a website called 'Brazzers.' The email was a solicitation for modeling work. The minor, who was 15 at the time, mentioned the email to Rose. Rose allegedly said he knew two people at the company and 'would put in a good word for her with them if she wanted to try modeling,' according to the document. The teen began sending photos in the spring of 2012."
The news site added, "The teen began communicating with these email accounts, and was allegedly told she could make more money by posing with less clothing, or with props like high heels and a tie. She sent about 150 photos to 'Tom' and was told they would not be posted publicly, but rather sold to private individuals or companies."
Court documents add that when the teen wanted to stop sending photos and mentioned as much to "Tom," the fake agent tried to dissuade her from doing so by "telling her via email she would be sued for not fulfilling 'her contractual obligation.'" When the teen replied that she was too young to be legally bound by such a contractual obligation, "A follow-up email from 'Tom' stated 'Tom' had lost money based on the teen quitting, and that she could work off the resulting debt of $5,650 by sending more photos. The teen feared 'Tom' would make the photos she already sent public to expose her to those she knew."
Incredulously, the court documents also state that the teen began to suspect that Rose and "Tom" were one and the same person, and communicated her fears to her boyfriend, who "told her to stop what she was doing when she told him about it."
According to Fox13, Rose, who became aware of her suspicions, "told her he was not doing so, that he could be fired and that they were being sued by 'Brazzers.' The teen said Rose told her he would take care of things, and she did not hear from 'Tom' or 'Jenika' again."
Finally, an investigation was begun in May of last year following a tip that led the Box Elder County Attorney’s office to decide that outside investigators should be brought in, "as Box Elder officials were familiar with the suspect and some had worked with him on prior cases."
In June, investigators served a search warrant at Rose's home, where they also interviewed him. "According to the document," reported Fox13, "when investigators asked Rose about the teen’s conversation with her boyfriend and Rose being behind the alleged ruse, he told them the teen talked to him about the modeling and photos and he had told her not to do those things."
He told investigators, 'I told her it was a bad idea and I told her not to, not to even dick around with it and I will leave it at that. I’m going to leave it at that.'"
However, documents also state that Rose's wife admitted to police that "Rose had confessed to her and other family members he had been manipulating a minor into sending photos to a fake company, and he had told them this was to 'protect' the minor."
Additionally, "Further searches turned up thousands of images of the minor that 'appear to have been surreptitiously taken of her while she was returning to her bedroom from having a shower or bath.' The photos were found on a cell phone seized when Rose was arrested, as well as on a laptop computer assigned to him by the Tremonton Police Department. Other images appeared to have been captured using a hidden camera."
The litany of charges levied against Rose indicate that far from acting to protect the young girl, he was actually engaged in a sophisticated ploy meant to exploit his own personal obsession with her.
Charges include "ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor as a second-degree felony, two counts of voyeurism as third-degree felonies, one count of obstruction of justice as a third-degree felony, one count of communications fraud as a second-degree felony, one count of dealing in material harmful to a minor as a third-degree felony and one count of stalking as a class A misdemeanor."
