Rexburg man sentenced after asking for sexual photos from undercover cop posing as teen
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REXBURG — A Rexburg man has been sentenced after talking to an undercover officer he thought was a 13-year-old girl, asking for sexual content and for sharing child pornography.
Benjamin Hicks, 23, was recently sentenced in Minidoka County District Court by Judge Jonathan Brody to a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20. The judge then retained jurisdiction, placing Hicks on a “rider program” where he will complete a treatment program in prison for one year.
Once the program is over, the judge can decide whether to send Hicks to prison for his given sentence or release him on probation.
Since he has been convicted, he is also required to register as a sex offender.
Hicks was initially charged with five felonies for distribution of child sexually exploitative material last year in October.
However, Hicks took a plea agreement this year. He pleaded guilty to one of the charges, and four charges were dismissed.
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Background
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by the Rupert Police Department, a detective with the department was on the social media platform Kik last year, posing as a 13-year-old girl.
The detective initially engaged in a non-sexual conversation with Hicks. However, the conversation took a sexual turn when Hicks started asking for sexual content.
Hicks requested the 13-year-old child take sexual photos of herself for him. The detective, who was posing as the girl, refused to comply.
Throughout the conversation, Hicks reportedly continued to ask for sexual images, court documents said.
During the conversation, Hicks told the detective he was from Rexburg, was 22 (at the time), was married, worked at night at an assisted living facility, and was a student at Brigham Young University-Idaho.
Hicks reportedly told the detective posing as the girl, he wanted to travel to Rupert to have sexual relations with her. Several times throughout the conversation, the detective told Hicks the fake persona was a 13-year-old girl.
However, it did not deter him, and he continued to ask for sex and nude photos, according to court documents.
Later, Hicks sent child pornography involving a 12-year-old girl to the detective, who was posing as other personas to communicate with Hicks. Hicks continued sending explicit videos of girls between the ages of three and 14 years old to the undercover detective, court documents said. The videos showed the girls being sexually abused.
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Eventually, Hicks was taken into custody after a three-month-long investigation.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Hicks’ sentence. This version of the article is correct. EastIdahoNews.com apologizes for the error.