Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
CEDAR CITY — A 37-year-old Las Vegas man has been arrested on multiple charges of sexual exploitation of a minor after he allegedly admitted to having sex with a 17-year-old girl at a Cedar City hotel in early May.
Vernon Ross was booked into Iron County Jail shortly after midnight on Saturday and is being held on suspicion of five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old, a third-degree felony; and two misdemeanor counts related to providing alcohol and tobacco products to a minor.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of his arrest, Ross was the alleged recipient of several phone calls made by the 17-year-old girl, who had been reported as a runaway.
"The juvenile had made several phone calls to Vernon Ross (a 37-year-old male) prior to her running away," the investigating Cedar City Police officer wrote in the affidavit. "We had reason to believe that she was with him. Vernon contacted me several days after she was found and informed me that he had been with her that night."
