LOGAN — A 49-year-old Logan man has been arrested for allegedly trying to meet up with a 12-year-old girl to have sex, according to law enforcement. Victor Angel Sambrano was booked Tuesday, Oct. 3 into the Cache County Jail after the individual he was texting turned out to be an undercover officer.
According to an arrest affidavit, Sambrano began messaging the Logan City Police officer on an anonymous online chat app. It allows users to locate and chat directly with others geographically nearby.
Sambrano initially stated that he wanted to hang out with the officer with no promises. However, after performing a brief video chat with a young looking female officer, who was posing as the young girl, the suspect immediately began making explicit sexual plans.
The chats continued with Sambrano allegedly sending graphic descriptions of what he wished to do with the undercover officer. He also asked for her to send him naked pictures of herself, and sent a video of him having sex with another woman, a probable cause statement detailed.
Tuesday, Sambrano asked the undercover officer to leave school and meet him near his apartment, east of the Cache Valley Mall. At the arranged time, police observed the suspect waiting at the designated location while looking at his phone.
Police took the 49-year-old man into custody without incident. They also searched the phone and located the chats with the undercover officer, according to the arrest paperwork.
Sambrano was arraigned Wednesday, Oct. 4 during a virtual hearing in Logan’s 1st District Court, appearing by WebEx from jail. He was charged with two counts of attempted sodomy on a child and attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, each first-degree felonies; three counts of enticing a minor and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, both second-degree felonies; along with dealing in materials harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony.
Cache County Deputy Attorney Griffin Hazard told the court, Sambrano was a danger to the community, in particularly children, and also a flight risk. He asked for the suspect to be held in jail without bail.
Judge Spencer Walsh followed Hazard’s recommendation, ordering Sambrano to remain incarcerated temporarily. He also assigned the suspect a public defender and ordered him to appear again in court Oct. 11.
Court records show Sambrano has been arrested previously for various drug crimes. He could face up to life in prison, if convicted.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.