Leon Mead appeared before Judge Douglas B. Thomas in Seventh District Court on Monday for sentencing in a case regarding sexual solicitation.
During the hearing, it was explained to the court by prosecuting attorney Jeremiah Humes that according to the sentencing matrix that the court uses as a guideline in sentencing, the sexual solicitation charge is not technically considered a sex offense. Instead, it is treated as a case with regular probation.
After listening to the explanation, Judge Thomas made his ruling. Mead will serve 210 days in the Carbon County Jail as well as 36 months of supervised probation. He is not allowed contact with minors under the age of 18 without Adult Probation and Parole permission. Mead will also be fined $950, with which half of that money can be used to complete a mandatory pyschosexual evaluation and treatment. Mead will be credited for the nine days he spent in jail after his arrest.
Mead was arrested on May 25, 2013. Allegedly, he stopped a minor in a public area and asked the teen if he would perform a sex act for a small amount of money. The youth quickly declined the offer. Mead then tripled what he first offered and asked the teen to perform a different act.
The youth fled the scene and reported the incident to his employer when he arrived at work. Local dispatch was immediately contacted. Armed with a good description of Mead, Price City Police was able to quickly locate him and took him into custody.
During an interrogation, Mead revealed he was HIV positive. That enhanced the charges, as well as the fact the victim he approached was a juvenile.
Mead was charged in Seventh District Court with second-degree felony aggravated exploitation of prostitution because the victim was a minor and sexual solicitation was elevated to a third-degree felony because of Mead’s HIV-positive status. He also was charged with third-degree felony distribution of pornography by an adult in connection to allegations that he was sending and receiving pornography on the Internet.
Bail was initially set at $109,000 but was reduced to $10,000. Mead posted bail an hour after the reduction.
Mead plead guilty to sexual solicitation by an HIV positive person, a third-degree felony, on March 10.
Utah court records show Mead plead guilty to a class B misdemeanor for committing a lewd act in Salt Lake City in 2006.