In connection with an investigation into the trafficking of a kid, Santiago Steven Maese was detained on Thursday at the Salt Lake County Jail.
An adolescent girl has allegedly been paid for sex by the chief operations officer of a Utah constable agency, who was previously arrested and charged with running a prostitution ring more than ten years ago.
He was taken into custody on Thursday and accused of five charges of illegal sexual behavior with a kid, including five counts of aggravated extortion of a child, rape, and human trafficking.
Was Utahn Santiago Steven Maese convicted?
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The 3rd Circuit Court has filed two accusations of child trafficking, a first-degree crime, against Santiago Steven Maese, 45, of southern Jordan.
In August, South Jordan Police were called to an adolescent girl’s home when the child’s guardians discovered she had a cellphone they were not aware of.
According to the affidavit, Santiago Steven Maese and the female juvenile victim had “multiple conversations,” some of which “were graphic in nature.”
The young woman said when questioned, “According to the affidavit, she met Steven “on two distinct sites to be paid for relationships,” both at his home and at his company. The victim said that Steven would occasionally pay her $100.
The girl allegedly remembered Maese sexually abusing her inside a car dealership, according to authorities.
The child said Maese took her to his business three to four times after hours where she was sexually abused, and another two to three times at this residence. This is all documented in the indictment.
Was he detained about a prostitution ring case?
Maese, who ran a prostitution ring with escort service Doll House, was found guilty in 2008 on four counts of exploiting a prostitute and engaging in a pattern of illicit activity.
Maese was alluded to by the prosecution as a contemporary “pimp” at the time. His conviction was upheld by the Utah Court of Appeals in 2010.
He received a sentence of three years of probation and 60 days in jail, with a term of one to fifteen years in prison postponed.
In 2019, Maese was accused of committing a few offenses of domestic violence. One was subsequently released, while the other was declared innocent, according to court records.
In July 2008, a jury found Maese guilty of operating a prostitution network while passing himself off as a respectable company.
He fiercely denied in court, meanwhile, that he ever instructed escort service personnel to engage in any sexual conduct in exchange for payment.
Maese’s appeal, according to Judge William Thorne Jr., was based on his opinion that the jury’s instructions were inadequate. Maese thought the evidence was insufficient and that the trial court should have halted the sentencing after ignoring a motion before trial.
Thorne asserts that Maese’s assurances that he was ready to proceed at the commencement of the trial and his approval of the jury instructions before their delivery allayed his concerns about the unresolved motion.
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