Police say man sent sex videos to teen victim’s mother
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IDAHO FALLS — Authorities have arrested a man after he allegedly sent sexual videos of a teenage girl to her mother.
Elias Diego-Bradley, 19, is charged with two felony counts of video voyeurism by sending a sexual image without consent. According to an affidavit of probable cause, Diego-Bradley reportedly sent the graphic videos over Facebook in August after the victim’s mother asked him to not be around her teenage daughter anymore.
The victim’s mother wrote in a statement to police that Diego-Bradley had abused her daughter. She also alleged that Diego-Bradley taught her how to shoplift and would disappear with her for 16 to 20 hours at a time. The tensions elevated when Diego-Bradley allegedly barged into a neighbor’s home in the middle of the night to get the victim.
“Elias, I told you I don’t want you around my daughter,” the victim’s mother said in a Facebook message to Diego-Bradley. “You have been a bad influence on her … please leave her alone.”
After no response and not seeing the victim for hours, Diego-Bradley allegedly responded a few days later with derogatory words. The messages continued with Diego-Bradley swearing at the mother. He also sent two explicit videos of Diego-Bradley engaged in sex acts with the victim, according to court documents.
The victim’s mother was upset and asked police to charge Diego-Bradley with statutory rape. However, under Idaho law, police explained that the victim and Diego-Bradley are not three or more years apart and thus they can not charge him with rape. However, investigators explained it is illegal to record and send sexually explicit videos online without the consent of all involved.
Police spoke with the victim, who explained she knew Diego-Bradley was recording her performing sex acts on him, according to court documents. But the victim thought the videos were going to be kept private and not shared with others.
Investigators sent a warrant to Facebook, requiring them to preserve content on Diego-Bradley’s Facebook account. Police found evidence Diego-Bradley had been exchanging messages with the mother, but they did not find the offending messages. They believe he may have deleted the messages and videos before police sent in the warrant.
During the investigation, police learned Diego-Bradley had allegedly asked another teenage girl for nude photographs, but that girl stopped speaking with Diego-Bradley after the request.
Diego-Bradley was arrested on Friday. At an initial appearance on Monday, Magistrate Judge Mark Riddoch set Diego-Bradley’s bail at $100,000. He remains held in the Bonneville County Jail awaiting a preliminary hearing on Dec. 18.