Santa Clara man sentenced to prison on revenge porn case

Composite image with background photo of, 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, August 2019. Inset photo of Timothy Paul Willliamson, 54, of Santa Clara, booking photo taken in Washington County, Utah, May 14, 2019 | Background photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A Santa Clara resident was sentenced to prison last week for uploading several graphic photos of a sexual encounter to a popular pornography website without the consent of the parties involved.

Timothy Paul Williamson, 54, of Santa Clara, booking photo taken in Washington County, May 14, 2019 | File photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Fifth District Judge John J. Walton sentenced 54-year-old Timothy Paul Williamson to serve 1-15 years in Utah State Prison on one second-degree felony charge of forcible sex abuse during a hearing held March 2. Williamson was also sentenced to serve 365 days in jail on each of the two class A misdemeanor charges of distribution of an intimate image, according to the sentencing order filed with the court.

The sentence for each charge will run concurrently. Fines totaling more than $28,600 were suspended in the case.

Williamson pleaded guilty to the charges during a hearing held in January. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the state agreed to drop three of the charges of distribution of an intimate image in exchange for a guilty plea.

The case stems from a  sexual assault report sent to police in February 2019, prompting detectives in Santa Clara to open an investigation into the incident. According to a sworn affidavit filed in 5th District Court, the woman told detectives that Williamson took photos of her during a sexual incident that were then uploaded to the pornography website Pornhub without the woman’s consent.

Williamson was arrested in May and charged with a first-degree felony for object rape and five counts of a class A misdemeanor for distribution of an intimate image. The charge was later amended to second-degree felony sexual abuse.

The misdemeanor charges fall 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.

During an initial interview with Williamson, he told detectives that he informed the woman that he was taking photos at that time she had sex with him and then had her view them on his cell phone the following day, but according to charging documents filed with the court, 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.

Detectives found the same photos that had been uploaded to the porn site on the defendant’s cell phone, and shortly after he was arrested and charged for the offenses.

During the March 2 hearing, Judge Walton signed the transport order, and the defendant was turned over to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to be transported to Utah State Prison to begin serving his sentence.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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