LOGAN — The former leader of a local charity organization has confessed to sexually abusing young children for years. Jorge A. Manan-Moreno is being held in a Utah County Jail without bail on multiple similar cases throughout northern Utah.
According to court records, Manan-Moreno appeared Dec. 2 in Logan’s 1st District Court. He accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony; and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony. As part of the agreement, prosecutors dismissed 26 remaining charges.
According to prosecutors, on June 12, 2023, Spanish Fork Police officers were contacted by a teenage boy. The victim told investigators how he and several other boys had been inappropriately touched by Manan-Moreno, a family/friend. The incidents took place at residences in Smithfield, Spanish Fork, Pleasant Grove, and Taylorsville.
The boy explained how all of the families were originally from Chile and often got together twice a month to socialize. Since Manan-Moreno and others lived several hours away, they would often spend the night at each other’s homes.
Court documents explained how the incidents occurred during the sleepovers, and involved the boys being molested and forced to perform sex acts with Manan-Moreno, while others were sleeping.
Prosecutors in Provo, Salt Lake City, and American Fork later filed five more cases against Manan-Moreno. The charges include 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony; and two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony.
Manan-Moreno was the director of the Catalina Lovy Foundation that reportedly would help low-income, underserved elderly people and people with disabilities. He was released by the organization days after his first arrest.
During Monday’s court appearance, Manan-Moreno was ordered to complete a presentence report about his criminal history, compiled by probation agents. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 16 on the two cases in Cache County, and could face up to life in prison.