LOGAN — A 52-year-old North Logan man previously convicted of sexting with an undercover officer posing as a teenage girl was arrested Tuesday in connection with a 26 year old cold case. Jorge Alejandro Cruz, a former Sky View High School soccer coach, was booked into the Cache County Jail after DNA evidence allegedly linked him to a 1999 sexual assault in Logan, according to law enforcement.
Cruz was booked on suspicion of two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony. The arrest stems from a Jan. 15 notification from the State Crime Lab indicating a DNA profile match from evidence collected by Logan City police officers more than 26 years ago.
According to a probable cause statement, a woman reported on Aug. 14, 1999, that a man broke into her trailer home and sexually assaulted her while she was asleep. The victim told police she woke to an unknown male fondling her. After she kicked and yelled at the intruder, he fled the scene.
The victim told police the man grabbed a sweatshirt on his way out, wiped himself with it, and tossed it before leaving. Police recovered the sweatshirt and identified bodily fluid, but no matching DNA profile existed in the system at the time.
The case was reactivated this year after investigators matched the DNA to Cruz. Police said his DNA was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) following a 2022 conviction.
According to court records, Cruz was originally arrested after messaging an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl on a popular mobile app in December 2021. He claimed he was a 15-year-old boy, and asked graphic questions about the girl’s body and sent several inappropriate photos and videos of himself. He later asked to meet up but never showed up. Cruz was later sentenced to 364 days in jail and 48 months of probation after accepting a plea deal.
After getting the DNA match, Logan police determined Cruz lived in the same trailer park as the victim at the time of the assault. Police records show he was involved in a traffic accident in the park in May 1999 and was arrested for DUI nearby just one week after the sexual assault. During the 1999 DUI arrest, he reportedly used the alias “Raymundo Lara”.
When interviewed by police, the victim said she did not recognize the suspect’s name but had long believed the intruder knew her schedule and had been watching her.
Cruz was arraigned Wednesday in Logan’s 1st District Court, appearing by web conference from jail. Judge Brian Cannell ordered the suspect to be held temporarily without bail and appear again in court March 11.
Upon Cruz’s arrest in March 2022, the Cache County School District immediately placed him on administrative leave and later released him. He was reportedly in his fifth year as head coach of the Sky View Bobcats and led the team to a 4A State Championship in 2019.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.