31-year-old man allegedly had sex with multiple teenagers at the same time
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IDAHO FALLS — A 31-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly traveling to Idaho Falls to meet up and have sex with several teenagers.
Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced in a news release that Cristian Escalera Maldonado had been arrested on Sunday, Dec. 22, and charged with seven felonies.
Below is the list of charges he faces, according to court records:
- Sexual battery of a minor child sixteen or seventeen years old (four charges)
- Lewd conduct with a child under sixteen
- Sexual exploitation of a child (production)
- Sexual exploitation of a child (possession)
What happened
According to an affidavit of probable cause, a family member reported in early December to the Idaho Falls Police Department that three teenagers were involved in a sexual relationship with Maldonado. Two teens are listed in documents as 16, while another one is 15 years old.
The reporting party turned in a cell phone to police belonging to one of the teens that contained text message conversations referring to the girls having sex with him, documents said.
The officer investigated the messages between the three teens and found their conversations with Maldonado on Snapchat. Police found sexual videos had been recorded. The man’s face was not visible in the videos, but there was an identifiable tattoo on his arm in one of the videos. Later, he was identified by police as Maldonado.
One of the teens reportedly told a family member through a message thread that she had sex with a 30-year-old man, who also indicated he wanted to have a “threesome” with her.
Police interview one of the teens
Later, police investigated another phone belonging to one of the 16-year-olds and observed sex acts in videos between that teen and Maldonado. Although the videos were taken from the teen’s phone, the videos were taken from the perspective of the man holding the phone, documents said.
That teen participated in a forensic interview at the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center. She disclosed having sex with Maldonado three to four times in early December. She said that the acts happened in his vehicle in Idaho Falls at a park, at an LDS church parking lot, and at her home.
She said one of the sexual encounters was group sex with two other teens in the back of his vehicle. She said Maldonado lived in Washington and would drive down to meet her.
Later in the investigation, the same teen reportedly logged back into Snapchat and spoke to Maldonado. He told her he would be in Idaho Falls. Police were then contacted.
At this time, police contacted the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) detectives for assistance.
One of the detectives posed as that teen on Snapchat and began talking to Maldonado. The detective asked him to meet at the parking lot near Edwards Theater in Ammon. He arrived and was stopped by Bonneville County deputies. He was detained and transported to the Idaho Falls Police Department for questioning.
What he said
A detective interviewed him. Maldonado reportedly confessed to having sex and oral sex with one of the teens multiple times and knowing she was under 18.
Maldonado told police he was not under the influence of any mind-altering substance when he performed these acts.
He reportedly confessed to being the man in the videos engaged in sex acts with the teen and that he recorded it. He showed his tattoo, which was found in the videos, and it matched.
Maldonado unlocked his cell phone and showed the Snapchat conversations between him and the teen and confessed to having sexually explicit videos of him and her on his phone, court documents said. He also reportedly admitted to engaging in sex with all three teens in the backseat of his vehicle while parked at a church in Idaho Falls.
He was arrested, transported to the Bonneville County Jail, and given a $500,000 bail.
“I am grateful for the hard work of our ICAC Unit and our law enforcement partners around the state,” Labrador said in a news release. “Protecting kids from sexual abuse and exploitation is a top priority for all of us. Our children deserve to be safe from these horrible crimes and predators.”
Anyone with information regarding the exploitation of children is encouraged to contact local police, the Attorney General’s ICAC Unit at 208-947-8700, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.
Maldonado is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at the Bonneville County Courthouse on Jan. 3 at 1 p.m.
Though Maldonado has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.