IDAHO FALLS — A 19-year-old man has pleaded guilty to a felony charge alleging he had sex with a 12-year-old girl.
Ruben R. Ponce, of Shelley, was arrested in September on one felony count of lewd conduct with a child under 16.
Ponce appeared before District Judge Dane H. Watkins earlier this month as he entered into a plea agreement.
Ponce also faces a felony charge of violating a no-contact order. According to court documents, Ponce used the inmate phone system in an attempt to communicate with the victim.
Court records show the two met on Facebook and on Sept. 11, Ponce went to the victim’s home. The victim told police that Ponce knocked on her window, and she left with him.
Ponce is then said to have drove the girl to a mobile home in Idaho Falls, where the victim said she had consensual sex with him three times. According to Idaho law, if the victim is under 16, any sexual conduct is lewd conduct, and sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 16 amounts to rape.
Court records state the victim’s mother received a text message from an unknown person saying her 12-year-old daughter was with Ponce at the mobile home on Broadway Street.
The victim’s mother then called police, but a man who was believed to be Ponce fled the area.
The girl agreed to a sexual assault examination at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
Court documents say evidence was found that corroborated the victim’s account of sexual intercourse.
According to police reports, Ponce admitted he had sex with the 12-year-old through text messages to a third party.
Court records state the person Ponce messaged is a victim in a previous case, in which Ponce is alleged to have impregnated her when she was 16.
Ponce was charged in that case with felony lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16 in February 2016.
In addition, in February 2014, Ponce was found guilty of misdemeanor enticing children.
Ponce is due back in court in May for sentencing.
The post Shelley man pleads guilty to having sex with 12-year-old girl appeared first on East Idaho News.