CEDAR CITY — A 48-year-old Salt Lake City man who pleaded guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and dealing in materials harmful to a minor has been sentenced to serve nine months in jail, followed by four years of probation.
Sean Brandon Foard was sentenced on April 30 in Cedar City by 5th District Judge Jeffrey C. Wilcox, who ordered Foard to serve a total of 270 days in Iron County Jail, with credit given for the 182 days he’d already served.
As previously reported, Foard was arrested and booked into jail on Nov. 1 following a sting operation conducted in mid-August by the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Foard was accused of exchanging sexually explicit text messages with a decoy officer who was purporting to be a 15-year-old girl living in Cedar City.
Foard, who was bound over on the charges in December, subsequently pleaded guilty to the two third-degree felony counts on March 5. A third charge of enticement of a minor, a class A misdemeanor, was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
During the April 30 sentencing hearing, Foard’s defense attorney Courtney Koehler referred the court to various letters that had been written in support of Foard, along with transcripts from coursework he’d completed while in custody.
“Quite frankly, I was really surprised by the amount of education that Mr. Foard has gone through while he’s been incarcerated, and it clearly shows that he has a curious mind, that he’s interested and that he wants to improve himself,” Koehler told the judge.
“Clearly, this is very concerning conduct,” Koehler added. “But at the same time, Your Honor, he has suffered some pretty heavy consequences. And I think it’s time to allow him to start to have a chance to rebuild his life.”
Koehler also spoke about the circumstances surrounding the sting operation, which ultimately resulted in Foard being arrested at his residence in Salt Lake.
“Mr. Foard did not actually attempt to meet this agent that was posing as this female,” Koehler said. “They had a conversation. There were some discussions of them meeting in person, but Mr. Foard voluntarily, on his own accord … broke off communication with this individual.”
“This isn’t a case where they made a plan to meet up, and he showed up, and he was arrested there on the spot,” Koehler added. “This is a situation where they talked for two and a half, three hours in a text, then he dropped the conversation. And this person even tried to rekindle it. And he never went back to it again.”
Given a chance to address the court directly, Foard apologized for his actions.
“I’m sorry. I’m embarrassed. My actions were inexcusable,” he said. “I regret it, and I know it was wrong.”
Prosecuting attorney Shane Klenk then argued that Foard should be sentenced to prison.
Klenk noted that Foard had previously served time in prison for automobile homicide while driving under the influence (note: Utah court records indicate that Foard was convicted of that charge in June 2011).
“As for the crimes with which the defendant is convicted here, they are extremely troubling,” Klenk told the court, adding, “It is clear that this crime could not have been an isolated one.”
“You cannot read the content of his messages and come to the conclusion that he is new to this behavior,” Klenk added. “Rather, it is representative of the defendant’s sexual addiction. Make no mistake, the defendant has been seeking deviant gratification at the expense of juveniles for a long time. This is an addiction which poses serious risk to the community.”
However, Koehler countered by saying Foard’s criminal history doesn’t reflect that.
“His criminal history doesn’t really indicate a track record of this kind of behavior,” Koehler said. “There actually isn’t any criminal history aside from the automobile homicide, which is completely unrelated in nature.”
Koehler said his client has accepted responsibility and understands how wrong his actions were.
“I certainly think that he stands to provide a lot of benefits to society as a whole and I think that he has shown that he can be successful on probation,” Koehler added.
After hearing from both sides, Wilcox then spoke to Foard, saying he was “troubled” by the case.
“What you did here is horrific,” Wilcox said.
“Your attorney tells me that … you never made any further efforts to do the sick things that you were talking about, discussing, and it wasn’t just discussing, you sent a picture,” Wilcox said. “The whole thing is disgusting.”
Wilcox then imposed two terms of 0-5 years in prison and ordered that they run consecutively; however, he then stayed that maximum penalty and ordered that Foard spend nine months in jail instead, with credit for six months already served.
Upon his release from jail, Foard will be placed on probation for 48 months, to be supervised by Adult Probation and Parole, the court added.
“If you are unable to meet and abide by AP&P’s conditions, this court will not have a problem in sending you to prison and have those terms run consecutively,” Wilcox said.
Foard was also fined $950, plus $106 in court security fees, to be paid in monthly installments of $50, starting three months after his release from jail.
Wilcox also told Foard that if he should decide to appeal, he has 30 days to file a written notice with the court.
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