Man given probation after offering hotel room in exchange for sex with teen
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IDAHO FALLS – A man was sentenced after offering a homeless teenager a hotel room in exchange for sex.
Mark Anthony Ullrich, 43, was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and one year of unsupervised probation by District Judge Michael Whyte.
Ullrich was originally charged with felony sexual battery, but after a plea agreement, the charge was reduced to misdemeanor injury to a child.
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Ullrich was arrested in July 2021 after the victim’s brother told deputies that Ullrich had offered him and his sister a hotel room in exchange for sex.
Investigators learned that the victim and her brother were homeless and had met Ullrich on a local Facebook group dedicated to helping others. Ullrich reportedly offered to get the two a hotel room and met them at Walmart.
After going to the hotel, the brother said he went outside to smoke a cigarette. When he returned to the hotel room, he said Ullrich was lying on the bed, undoing his pants without a shirt on.
Court documents say officers were then called, and when they arrived, could hear Ullrich and the teenage girl talking about a “sex act” through the door.
Police asked them to come outside the room, where Ullrich told officers he “had just been trying to help the two because they are homeless,” an officer wrote in a report.
Ullrich told police he connected with the two, who said they were engaged. He said the couple offered to have the girl, who he said told him she was 18, perform a sex act on him.
Further discussion led to Ullrich offering to pay for two nights at the Econo Lodge, according to court documents.
Ullrich told police the girl did perform the sex act, but they did not have intercourse.
When police tried talking to the girl, she said she was 18 years old and gave a fake name.
Eventually, she confessed to only being 17 and gave her real name. According to officers, the girl said nothing inappropriate happened between her and Ullrich.
A family member then came and took custody of the teen.