Utah man gets rider in Bear Lake County for sexual abuse of a child
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PARIS — A Tremonton, Utah, man who pleaded guilty to two counts of child sexual abuse has been sent on a rider.
Jayson Heath Martineau, 50, pleaded guilty to the felony charges as part of a plea agreement with the Bear Lake County prosecutor. In exchange, one count of rape and three counts of lewd conduct with a minor were dismissed.
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At a Nov. 16 hearing, District Judge Stephen Dunn sentenced Martineau to a rider with an underlying prison sentence of 10 to 20 years, court records show.
A rider program is where a judge sends a person to prison for up to a year to undergo different treatment programs. When the inmate has completed the program, the judge can then decide to send them back to prison for their sentence or release them on probation.
Martineau was arrested in April 2022 for sex acts that occurred in the mid-1990s and involved three separate children between the ages of 5 and 11 at the times of the attacks.
He was initially charged with one count of rape and five counts of lewd conduct with a minor.
Martineau’s defense attorneys attempted to have charges dismissed over the statute of limitations. But that motion was denied. The attorneys then tried to separate the charges, saying that trying the three cases together would be “unfairly prejudicial to the defendant.”
When that motion failed, the defense filed its intention to lodge an alibi defense, saying he was away from the state of Idaho on a religious mission at the time of the attacks.
Eventually, Martineau accepted a plea deal that required he plea guilty to amended charges.
As part of his sentence, Martineau was ordered to pay $2,191 in fees and fines. He must also comply with any and all treatment recommendations made following a psychosexual evaluation.
Dunn also ordered the restitution request window remain open until Martineau’s rider review hearing and all no-contact orders remain in place until the completion of all probation time.