Nathan Benjamin Allen booking photo from the Cache County Jail.
LOGAN — A 38-year-old Murray man has confessed to driving to Logan to meet up with an undercover police officer, posing as a 13-year-old girl. Nathan Benjamin Allen has been in the Cache County Jail since being arrested in August.
Allen appeared Monday morning in 1st District Court. He accepted a plea agreement, pleading guilty to attempted sodomy on a child and attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, both first-degree felonies; two counts of enticing a minor by internet or text and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, both second-degree felonies; along with dealing in materials harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony.
Defense attorney Kevin Sullivan explained that as part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss 9 remaining charges.
According to prosecutors, Allen began chatting with a Logan City Police officer on an internet chat website in June 2022. He began a sexually flirtatious conversation and then asked to move the chats to a mobile app.
Allen continued to point the direction of the chats in a sexual nature, saying that he wanted to meet in person. He also sent a video of him exposing and inappropriately touching himself.
As the chats continued, the defendant arranged to drive to Logan to pick up the undercover officer twice. Both times he did not show up, claiming that he had a work emergency the first time and got in a car accident the second time.
On Aug. 18, 2022, Allen again stated that he wanted to meet up and was driving to Cache Valley. A location was arranged, where officers were waiting when he pulled up and got out of his car. He told police, he only intended to talk to the girl.
During Monday’s hearing, Judge Spencer Walsh scheduled sentencing for April 3 and ordered Allen to complete a presentence report about his criminal history.
Allen remains in jail, being held without bail. He could face up to life in prison.
will@cvradio.com