Bannock County man already charged with rape now faces a slew of additional felonies, including child porn
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CHUBBUCK — A man already in jail for an alleged rape has been charged with numerous additional felonies.
Jonathan Ryan Alexander, 49, was arrested last December and charged with multiple felonies, including two counts of rape and two counts of lewd conduct with a minor. Now, he faces a multitude of separate charges, including 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, 11 counts of possessing child pornography and five counts of sexually abusing a child, court records show.
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Initial charges
Alexander was arrested Dec. 24, 2022, following an investigation initiated when the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office received reports of a 14-year-old girl having been sexually molested for years. During the course of their investigation, deputies learned the sexual abuse began when the girl was eight years old, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Deputies also learned Alexander was wanted in Elko County, Nevada for sexual assault on a child and using a child in the production of pornography.
Child sexually exploitative material
As part of their investigation, deputies seized two phones belonging to Alexander for forensic analysis.
During that analysis, investigators founds “approximately 1,000 photographs” of the child victim “in various stages of nudity and sexual poses.” The images also show the girl performing sex acts with Alexander, the affidavit says.
Additionally, investigators found six videos of the victim nude or scantly clad, along with 603 text messages between Alexander and the victim.
Among those text messages were several pornographic photos and videos. The backgrounds in some of the pictures were matched to the interior of Alexander’s home.
Police reports note Alexander sent the victim “several photos” of himself nude to the victim on Dec. 24 — the day he was arrested.
Burglary and petit theft
Several days prior to his arrest for rape, deputies were asked to trespass Alexander from his residence following a verbal dispute.
While dealing with that situation, deputies were informed Alexander had withdrawn $1,000 from a bank account not belonging to him.
When he was taken into custody for rape and lewd conduct, deputies performed a pat-down search, during which they found an envelope from the bank where the money was withdrawn. Inside the envelope, deputies found $860 cash and a receipt from the bank transaction.
Preparing false evidence
While monitoring calls to and from inmates, a Bannock County Jail deputy heard Alexander talk about a letter he sent to the person with whom he was speaking.
Deputies located the letter and noted that the name of the victim was visible through the envelope. Because the letter was not addressed to Alexander’s attorney, deputies opened the letter.
In it, Alexander allegedly asked for a boy to use the name “Kevin” and claim to be the boyfriend of the 14-year-old rape victim. He asked “Kevin” to call Alexander’s defense attorney, Bannock County Deputy Public Defender Rilie Fry, and tell Fry that he and the victim had been engaging in a sexual relationship at Alexander’s home.
Attempted witness intimidation
Deputies received a call from the mother of the rape victim in September, according to the affidavit. She said her son had received text messages from someone she believed was housed in the same jail pod as Alexander. She was concerned about the safety of herself and her children.
While monitoring phone calls to and from jail inmates, deputies listened to a conversation between Alexander a “cell mate.” During the conversation, the affidavit says, the cell mate tells Alexander that he is not going to create a fake Facebook account and that “I’m just going to message (the son) off mine.” After a brief back and forth, the cell mate agreed to create a fake account.
During the same conversation, Alexander tells the former cell mate that “it has to be done soon because (Alexander) is worried about them,” the affidavit says.
Alexander and the former cell mate had several cryptic phone conversations — during which they seemed to be confusing each other, the affidavit suggests.
The conversations were copied and saved as potential evidence.
Several days later, a Bannock County detective spoke with Alexander’s former cell mate at the cell mate’s probation officer’s office.
During their conversation, the detective told the former cell mate about a phone call he had received from the mother of the victim — that she was worried about the safety of her children.
The cell mate told the detective he was correct, and provided details about Alexander’s plan. He said Alexander wrote a letter for the cell mate to read to the victim, in hopes it convince the victim to “change her story and tell the truth,” the affidavit says.
The cell mate told the detective that the story Alexander gave him was that the mother of the victim was “feeding (the victim) all kinds of lies.”
After their discussion, the cell mate agreed to provide the detective with a written statement about Alexander’s plan to convince the victim to change her story.
In total, Alexander is charged with felonies for witness intimidation, preparing false evidence, two counts of burglary, 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, 11 counts of possessing child pornography, five counts of sexually abusing a child, two counts of rape, two counts of lewd conduct with a minor and one count of sexual abuse of a child. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of petit theft and the Nevada charges.
Though Alexander has been charged with this crime, it does not necessarily mean he committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.
If he is found guilty, Alexander faces several potential life sentences.
He is scheduled for jury trial before District Judge Javier Gabiola on Jan. 16.