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LOGAN — The former boys soccer coach at Sky View High School is serving jail time for sexting with an undercover police officer who was posing as a 13-year-old girl.
Jorge Alejandro Cruz, 49, of Logan, was sentenced last week to two terms of one to 15 years in prison and two terms of one to five years in prison, but those terms were suspended. Instead, 1st District Judge Spencer D. Walsh imposed a jail sentence of one year, with credit for 19 days already served. Cruz will be granted work release after 210 days and will serve 48 months of probation following his jail time, court documents state. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $1,193.
Cruz began having explicit conversations with the officer posing as a minor in December 2021, and it escalated as he shared nude photos, according to a police booking affidavit. He also asked to meet with the minor in February but then canceled.
During the investigation, police served a search warrant on Cruz's account and connected the email used to him, learning that he was a youth soccer coach for multiple teams, including the high school.
Cruz's friends, family members and former soccer players filed dozens of support letters on his behalf, court records show. One former soccer player called Cruz a "coach, father figure, teammate, friend, leader (and) brother. ... This whole valley owes him for the positivity and beauty he has contributed to families and players from mountain to mountain."
A mental health therapist wrote that Cruz has taken responsibility for his actions, shown empathy for the pain he's caused and has been fully compliant with treatment. "It is my clinical opinion that Mr. Cruz would be considered a low-risk case," the therapist wrote.
Cruz wrote in his own letter to the court that he's "truly sorry" for his actions, saying they stemmed from depression and low self-esteem, though he recognizes that those aren't excuses for his behavior.
He apologized to his wife and children for the "hurt, shame and chaos" he created in their lives, and to the community for destroying their trust in him.
"This is the darkest moment in my life. Yet, I can see blessings that are being delivered to me," Cruz wrote. "I have had to really reflect and peel the layers of myself to understand how I got here. I had to find out why I let myself fall so hard."
Cruz was initially charged with three counts of enticing a minor by internet or text, a second-degree felony; enticing a minor, a third-degree felony; and four counts of dealing in materials harmful to minors, a third-degree felony. In January, he pleaded guilty to four counts of enticing a minor, two second-degree felonies and two third-degree felonies. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed the remaining charges.
