Utah man charged with lewd conduct with a minor in Bear Lake County

PARIS — A Tremonton, Utah man has been charged with lewd conduct with a minor for multiple incidents that allegedly occurred in the mid-1990s.

Jayson Heath Martineau, 49, faces five felony counts of lewd conduct with a minor, according to court records. He was arrested and charged in April and posted a $100,000 bond in May.

A criminal complaint shows Martineau engaged in sexual contact with three different children, between the ages of 5 and 11, from 1994 to 1996.

The original complaint showed the alleged attacks occurred between 1992 and 1994, but those dates were amended following an investigation. The original complaint also included a charge of rape, but that charge has since been dismissed.

A motion by the defense, filed in June, requested that the court dismiss all charges based on the statute of limitations. The motion stated that these charges must be filed within five years of the crime and three years of the crime being reported.

That motion was dismissed.

The defense also filed a motion to separate the charges into three separate cases, claiming that they should be tried separately because there were three victims. Because the alleged crimes involved three victims of different ages, gender and types of misconduct and that they occurred at different times and in different locations, they should be separated, the motion claimed.

“The facts in the complaint clearly allege that all of these offenses occurred at different times and were not part of any common scheme or plan,” the motion claimed.

Joining all three victims into one case is “unfairly prejudicial to the defendant,” the motion further claimed.

After the motion was also dismissed, the defense filed a notice of alibi defense in August.

That motion claims that Martineau was on a religious mission when the early attacks took place and was living in Utah when later ones occurred. Three witnesses will testify to Martineau’s being away from Idaho during the times the attacks are alleged to have happened.

Exact dates were not included in the notice, however. As the defense stated, that is because precise dates have not been provided by the prosecution.

“(The) defendant potentially could more specifically define the dates and times; however, the state has failed through both the prelims hearing and in the information to disclose a specific time when the events of these allegations occurred,” the notice says.

The notice includes the facts that the dates included in the complaint have changed, saying that this was due to altered testimony by the victims.

No-contact orders were issued by the court, barring Martineau from contact with the victims, court documents show.

Though Martineau has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If he is found guilty, Martineau could face up to life in prison.

He is scheduled for a jury trial before District Judge Mitchell Brown on Dec. 12. The trial is expected to last two days.