LOGAN — A 19-year-old Logan man has been sent to jail after previously confessing to taking pornographic pictures of a young girl and posting them on the internet. Emanuel Zamora was ordered to serve one year behind bars and warned that he will be sent to prison if he ever harms anymore children.
Zamora was sentenced in 1st District Court Monday morning. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony; and lewdness involving a child, a third-degree felony.
Zamora told the court he was remorseful for what he did. He said, he wanted to prove that he can be a good person.
Cache County Deputy Attorney Dane Murray said Zamora’s case was extremely concerning. He noted how the pictures of the victim were scattered all over the internet and can’t be removed.
Defense attorney Matthew Strickland asked the court not to send his client to jail. He noted that Zamora had no criminal history and suffered from depression. He also said the defendant was young and might be harmed by other inmates, if sent to jail or prison.
Last September, Logan City police officers received a tip from Australian investigators that Zamora was taking photographs of an 11-year-old relative. The pictures were taken while the victim was asleep and showed her in various stages of undress. The photos had been uploaded to a Russian website, used for sharing child pornography. He also posted comments on the site about possibly sexually abusing the child.
Later, FBI agents served a search warrant to Zamora’s apartment. They found multiple images and videos of the juvenile on the suspect’s cellphone. The material appeared to be filmed unknowingly, while the victim was undressing.
During Monday’s sentencing, Judge Thomas Willmore expressed anger with Zamora’s actions, and threatened to send him to prison if he abused anymore children. He ordered the defendant to be held for one-year in the Cache County Jail and comply with all sex-offender regulations.
How does this person only get one year in jail and a stern warning for child molestation (child pornography is just another type of abuse and molestation)? Was the judge constrained to a maximum sentence? This seems like a slap on the wrist.
And I didn’t see anything about required counseling, maybe that’s part of registering as a sex offender.
And above all else, I hope his victim receives significant support.