Santa Clara man jailed on rape, revenge porn charges

Stock image | Photo by Chalabala/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

ST. GEORGE ― A Santa Clara resident was recently arrested after he uploaded several intimate photos of a sexual encounter to a popular pornography website without the consent of the parties involved.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For the purposes of transparency and the disclosure of conflicts of interest, Mr. Williamson was a former contributor to St. George News. His last entry was eight years ago. The current editor in chief has not met or had correspondence with Mr. Williamson, and was unaware of his previous submissions to St. George News until May 22, 2019. 

Timothy Paul Williamson booking photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Timothy Paul Williamson, 54, was arrested May 14 on a first-degree felony for object rape and five counts of a class A misdemeanor for distribution of an intimate image.

The misdemeanor charge falls under the classification of “revenge porn.” Passed by the Utah Legislature in 2014, the law protects victims who may have shared intimate material with a partner to later find it posted online without their consent in an attempt to embarrass them.

Washington County Deputy Attorney Ryan Shaw, who is responsible for prosecuting sex crimes, said revenge porn is not something he sees often. However, he believes it is a crime that will continue to increase as more people are sharing intimate images via email, social media and texting.

“My experience is that the lesson we should be walking away with here is, do not produce or share intimate images with anyone because once they’re out you have absolutely no control over where they end up,” Shaw said. “So if you don’t want to be exploited, don’t share intimate images and videos with one person hoping it doesn’t get shared further because you just don’t know. Don’t give it to anyone.”

According to a sworn affidavit filed in 5th District Court, Santa Clara Police Detective Nicholas Tobler alleges Williamson uploaded the photos of the sexual incident to the pornography website Pornhub without the victim’s consent.

The case initially came to Tobler’s attention after the victim filed a report Feb. 28 alleging she had been raped by Williamson.

The victim told police she and Williamson had been drinking together on Feb. 10 at her residence when she decided to take her prescribed sleep-aid medication and go to her bedroom.

“The last memory she had that night was falling asleep in her bedroom alone,” Tobler states. “The next memory (the victim) had was the next morning when she woke up in her bed with no clothes on and with Mr. Williamson standing over her.”

Williamson allegedly informed her at that time she had sex with him the previous night and showed her the photos he had taken of the incident with his cell phone. According to the affidavit, the victim denied giving consent.

She later received an anonymous email on Feb. 20 referring her to a Pornhub account, where she viewed several photos of her and another partner having sexual relations, the affidavit stated. The photos were not of Williamson, but the account was closed before officers could verify the information.

The victim told police she believed Williamson had taken the photos off her phone and said she had not given consent to having the images posted online. Police later spoke to Williamson, who admitted to sending the email to the victim “warning her of the photographs posted on Pornhub,” but he denied creating the account or posting the images, according to court records.

During a protective order hearing between Williamson and the victim, the defendant allegedly admitted he had transferred the photographs from her phone during their Feb. 10 sexual encounter. He testified he also had several other photos that he claimed she allowed him to take, the affidavit states.

The Pornhub account was reactivated March 11, giving the victim an opportunity to take screenshots of the original photos that had been posted Feb. 20. Tobler said he viewed screenshots of five intimate photos of the victim and her partner completely nude having sexual relations.

After securing a search warrant for Williamson’s cell phone, police said they found 11 photos of the defendant and the victim from Feb. 10, as previously described by the victim to police.

“(The victim) appeared to be asleep and non-coherent,” Tobler stated. “In each photograph (the victim’s) face was visible, it appeared that she was asleep and non-coherent.”

Police allege the photos depicted the victim completely nude in different positions. Three of the images were a close-up of the victim’s genitals, with one photo allegedly showing manual – or digital – penetration.

Tobler swore in his affidavit that he also found the same photos that had been uploaded to Pornhub on Williamson’s phone.

On April 18, Williamson allegedly called the victim to wish her a happy birthday, at which time she confronted him about posting the photos on Pornhub.

“Mr. Williamson then admitted to her that he posted the photographs and that he did it out of anger and frustration,” the affidavit states.

Williamson appeared in court for his initial appearance May 16. He remains in Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility on $20,000 bondable bail.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.

 

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!