A Provo man is accused of collecting nude pictures from underage girls as young as 12, from multiple states, and sending messages discussing raping and kidnapping them.
The man, 31, also is accused of urging one girl to kill herself and encouraging others to molest other children.
The man, 31, was charged last month with 43 felony counts in connection with Facebook messages he allegedly exchanged with six girls since 2017.
In the messages he solicited and received, he repeatedly referred to himself as “daddy,” according to charging documents. When he asked one girl, 15, to molest her young nephew, she replied, “I will daddy,” prosecutors wrote.
He allegedly told one 14-year-old he wanted to choke her and asked another girl, “You want to be raped and hurt?” charging documents state.
According to prosecutors, he also told one girl to “molest the kids you watch,” apparently referring to children she babysits. When the girl said she could get caught, the man allegedly asked her: “What’s more important my happiness or yours?”
The man wrote to one of the girls that he lived close enough to visit her and told her to delete their message history to avoid being caught, court documents state.
He also sent sexuallly explicit photos of prepubescent children, according to jail documents.
Investigators are trying to identify the juvenile victims in the case and believe one lives in or around Ogden, one in Oklahoma, one in Iowa and one in West Virginia.
The man was charged with 34 second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and six second- and third-degree felony counts of enticing a minor. He also was charged with third-degree felony counts of dealing in harmful material to a minor and obstructing justice.