Kristopher Kent Burden booking photo from the Cache County Jail.
LOGAN — A 34-year-old Salt Lake City sex-offender is headed to prison for at least 15 years for driving to Logan to have sex with an undercover police officer posing as a teenage girl last fall. Kristopher Kent Burden hugged his parents goodbye, as deputies escorted him out of the courtroom to begin serving his incarceration.
Burden was sentenced Monday afternoon in 1st District Court. He accepted a plea deal in February, pleading guilty to attempted rape of a child, attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, both first-degree felonies; and enticing a minor by internet or text, second-degree felony.
In September 2022, Burden began messaging a Logan City Police officer. The undercover officer was using an anonymous chat website that allows for one-on-one chats as well as group chats, and had identified themselves as a 13-year-old girl.
Burden messaged the officer and began asking about prior sexual experiences and if they could meet in person. He also described in graphic detail what he wanted to do with the officer and later said he wanted her to have his babies.
Police were able to determine Burden’s identity by tracking his phone number and personal information given in his texts. They later learned that he had been previously arrested for enticing a minor during a similar undercover police operation in Farmington. He was convicted of unlawful sexual activity with a teenager and was placed on the sex-offender registry.
On October 17, Burden messaged the undercover officer that he had gotten work off and was coming up to see her. He arranged a time and place to meet, where police were waiting when he arrived, to take him into custody. He was booked into the Cache County Jail and held without bail.
During Monday’s sentencing, defense attorney Cameron Cox said his client’s actions stem from years of mental health problems.
Cache County Deputy Attorney Ronnie Keller said Burden didn’t understand the gravity of his actions. He noted how officers found evidence of him using the internet to search for child pornography.
Burden’s parents asked the court for mercy, describing their son as a 17-year-old boy in a 35-year-old’s body. They had tried to get their son help after he was arrested before. His mother cried as she said it was heartbreaking to think about when she would see her son again.
Burden told the court he was sorry for what he did. He said he was a good kid who screwed up again but was going to be a better person.
Judge Spencer Walsh told Burden that he had been given a chance previously but didn’t learn from it. He said the defendant had some “real disturbing tendencies” and should know that kids are off limits.
Burden was ordered to serve a term of 15-years-to-life in prison, being given credit for the five months he had already spent in jail. He will likely be up for parole in 2038.