- Jonathan Alexander Demeyer, 22, faces over 20 felony charges in Provo.
- Demeyer allegedly posed as a teen online, soliciting nude photos from minors.
- He allegedly admitted to possessing child abuse material, claiming he was scamming pedophiles.
PROVO — A man who police say had been living in Provo for only three months is facing more than two dozen felony charges after his girlfriend reported finding suspected child sex abuse material on his phone.
Investigators believe Jonathan Alexander Demeyer, 22, was posing as a teen boy on social media and soliciting nude pictures from teen girls.
Demeyer was charged Monday in 4th District Court with 10 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony; eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; and 10 counts of distributing harmful material to a minor, a third-degree felony.
The investigation began July 1 when a woman called police "to report that she had gone through her boyfriend's phone and saw many videos which she described as young children being sexually abused and engaged in sexual acts," according charging documents. "(She) also saw messages in Snapchat where (Demeyer) was pretending to be a 14-year-old boy and noticed that the conversations were sexual in nature."
Detectives later had the girlfriend call Demeyer and confront him about the images found on his phone as officers recorded the conversation. He admitted to having the videos but claimed that he was "attempting to scam pedophiles online," the charges allege.
Police then located and arrested Demeyer after he began driving to Iowa.
"Officers conducted a search of (his) phone. Officers observed a large amount of child sexual abuse material on the phone," according to the charges.
Police also found messages with teen girls in which he "told the girls that he was 14 years old, when he was 22 years old," the charges state. "The messages began approximately in November 2024 and continued to present day. ... He stated that he does not remember when this began but estimated it began four to five years ago. (Demeyer) also admitted that he downloads and trades all of the child sexual abuse material and identified the online applications he uses to do so."
