Judge sentences funeral home owner Lonnie Nyman to prison

Lonnie Nyman appears in 3rd District Court in June in Salt Lake City, to plead guilty to charges including enticement of a minor, and witness tampering (Eli Lucero/Court Pool).

The 45-year-old owner and president of Nyman Funeral Home is headed to prison for trying to have sex with a teenage boy and other crimes. Lonnie Nyman was given the maximum sentences for the charges that he pleaded guilty to previously.

Court records show, Nyman was sentenced in 3rd District Court Monday morning, in Salt Lake City. He previously pleaded guilty to issuing a bad check and unlawful activity, both second-degree felonies; dealing in materials harmful to a minor, obstruction of justice and tampering with a witness, all third-degree felonies; and two misdemeanors of seducing a minor over the internet.

Judge Vernice Trease issued the maximum sentence for each of the charges Nyman had confessed to. The sentences for the two cases will run consecutively, meaning Nyman will serve between 1-to-15-years in prison before becoming eligible for parole. She also ordered deputies to transport the defendant from the Salt Lake County Jail, where he was being incarcerated, to prison immediately.

Nyman was originally arrested October 30, after contacting a boy through a social media app commonly used to arrange sexual encounters. Detectives began investigating him after a family member found photos of the teen on the suspect’s computer tablet.

Authorities later learned that as the investigation started, Nyman contacted the victim on the same app again, telling him that his family had found out about their relationship. He later called the boy and told him that if anyone questioned him, he should lie and say, “all we did was visit.”

Police arrested Nyman a second time in November. Police determined that he wrote fraudulent checks when he tried to post bail the first time.

In March, Nyman was arrested a third time. He was accused of trying multiple times to contact a witness in one of his other cases. The communications allegedly occurred earlier this year while the defendant was on pretrial supervision after being allowed to post bond a second time. A preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for September 16.


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