Ex-school board member pleads guilty to child porn, sexual abuse of minor in Utah

A former school board member in Utah was sentenced to prison after he pleaded guilty to downloading child pornography and sexually abusing a minor, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Joél-Léhi Organista, 29, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on a charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and another 15 years on a charge of enticing a minor over internet or text, KSL News reported.

Both sentences will run concurrently.

Organista also faces a federal sentencing hearing on May 17, Fox13 reported.

Organista resigned from the Salt Lake City school board in 2021 after his arrest, the Tribune reported. In addition to the two state-level felony charges, he has pleaded guilty to federal felony charges of production and distribution of child porn, the outlet reported.

He could also be required to register as a sex offender and undergo a lifetime of supervised release after his prison sentences are over, the Tribune reported.

In 2021. between January and June — and when he was a school board member — Organista is accused of befriending a boy under 14 years old on Snapchat and talking him into performing sexual acts on video and sending him the video. He admitted to doing so in a statement in support of his guilty pleas, KSL reported.

Police also said that a search of Organista’s phone revealed he had been communicating with multiple children between 12 and 17 years old over Snapchat, the Tribune reported.

Law enforcement officers received tips about Organista’s behavior in January 2021 and searched his home with a warrant in June. He was arrested at that time and has been in police custody since, the Gephardt Daily reported.

Police noted in an affidavit that, because of Organista’s position on the school board, he had access to young children. However, board members at the time of his arrest said they did not believe any children in the Salt Lake City school district had been hurt, KSL reported.

Organista was first elected to the school board in fall 2020, the Tribune reported.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.

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