Man gets 2 to 10 years in prison for enticing young girls over the internet
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IDAHO FALLS — A local man was sentenced Monday for attempting to entice underage girls into having sexual relations with him.
Aaron Anthony, 40, was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison with two years fixed after being convicted of felony enticement through the internet. He was also given a $500 fine.
Anthony was initially arrested on June 27, after the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Unit received a tip from a citizen that he was talking to underage girls and possibly trying to meet them to engage in sexual intercourse.
Anthony was on parole when he was arrested in June. He had previously been arrested on a separate felony enticement charge in May.
According to documents about the most recent arrest, the citizen created a fake Kik account and contacted Anthony claiming to be a 17-year-old girl. Kik is a mobile messaging application.
Anthony reportedly sent explicit images of himself and asked the person, believing it was an underage girl, for sex.
According to the probable cause statement, as part of the investigation, a detective in the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office also created an undercover Kik account with the screen name “idahochica.” With the Kik account a the detective posed as “Brittni Gonzalez” a fictitious 15-year-old Skyline High School student.
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The detective then made contact with Anthony on Kik. Anthony’s screen name was “dandemonkiller.” During the conversation, Anthony began asking “Brittni” sexually explicit questions, which escalated to him saying he wanted to have sex with her and sending explicit images of himself.
Documents show Anthony understood any sexual activity with “Brittni” would be illegal by saying, “and if I get caught I will go to jail” during the conversation with “Brittni.”
Anthony suggested they meet at a church building in Idaho Falls to have sex. Law enforcement arrived at the area to arrest Anthony but he ended up not showing up because “his babysitter called him back to his house.”
The detective contacted Anthony again as “Brittni” and they agreed to meet at the same location later that day. When Anthony arrived he was arrested.