A former employee of the Wasatch School District has been charged in Fourth District Court with sexual exploitation of a minor. The defendant allegedly solicited explicit photos and videos online from an Arizona girl.
Charges have been filed by the Utah Attorney General’s Office against 28-year-old Dale Robert Lawrence of Heber.
According to court documents, an investigation began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a Cybertip report from a girl, 16 years old at that time.
She said that from March of 2018 through June of that year, she had been communicating on Snapchat with a man named “Dale” who lived in Utah.
The girl said that, at his request, she sent the man sexually explicit photos and videos of herself.
When the girl admitted she was 15, the man wrote back, “That’s okay…Means you’re my secret little slut.” He also sent messages about sexual acts he would like to perform on the girl.
Dale gave the girl his e-mail address. Working from other clues, an investigating officer found a Utah driver’s license for Dale Lawrence in Heber. His driver’s license photo matched pictures the girl had received from the suspect’s Snapchat account.
Last month, an investigator contacted the defendant, who admitted that he had communicated with the girl, knew she was underage, and that he had asked her for sexually explicit material.
Lawrence is charged with 15 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor—for each time that he received photos or videos of the girl. That offense is a Second-Degree
Felony. He was also charged with Dealing in Material Harmful to a Minor, a Third-Degree Felony; and four counts of Enticement of a Minor, a Class A Misdemeanor.
Wasatch School spokeswoman Kirsta Albert said in a statement that Lawrence separated from the District earlier in September. She said he was hired as an aide in January of 2017.
A summons has been issued for him to appear in court.
