CEDAR CITY, UT — A Cedar City man is facing a first-degree felony after police say he came to Southern Utah University intending to meet what he believed was a 13-year-old girl for sexual activity.
Jared Goudy Hatch, 30, was taken into custody by Southern Utah University Police on Wednesday and booked into Iron County Jail shortly before midnight. A probable cause statement says he was arrested about three hours after officers were called to campus by two men working with Predator Poachers.
According to the affidavit, Hatch later told officers he had been trying to meet a female juvenile he knew was 13 for the purpose of sexual acts. Prosecutors have not yet scheduled his first court appearance.
How police say the campus encounter unfolded
The arrest began at the bell tower on the Southern Utah University campus, where the two men connected to Predator Poachers say they confronted Hatch and then contacted police. Officers were asked to respond after the men had already made contact with him at that spot.
When SUU officers arrived, Hatch was read his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with them, according to the probable cause statement. Police say he then acknowledged his intent to meet the juvenile decoy for sexual purposes.
The officer’s affidavit says Hatch’s phone was seized as evidence at the scene. That device may be part of the case file if prosecutors move forward with charges in court.
The charge carries a first-degree felony allegation
Hatch was booked on one count of attempted rape of a child, which is charged as a first-degree felony. In Utah, that classification places the case among the state’s most serious felony allegations.
In asking for a no-bail hold, the arresting officer wrote that the material supplied by Predator Poachers showed “substantial evidence” that Hatch intended to meet a 13-year-old for sex. The officer also wrote that Hatch had both the intent and the means to carry out the plan.
As of Friday morning, Hatch remained jailed without bail in Iron County. Court records reviewed on Thursday did not show any prior criminal history for him.
What Predator Poachers says it does in sting cases
Predator Poachers is a Houston-based national group founded by Alex Rosen in 2019. The organization says it sets up sting operations in which adult decoys pose as minors to catch suspected child predators during online solicitation or in-person meetings.
The group says its investigations have led to arrests in all 50 states. In this case, the men working with the organization provided police with phone conversations, text exchanges, photos and other material, according to the affidavit.
They also showed officers body-camera footage from the initial contact with Hatch and walked police through much of the message history tied to the decoy persona. That material formed a key part of the probable cause filing.
Police relied on messages, photos and body-camera video
The affidavit says officers reviewed a broad set of records after the encounter. Those records included communications between Hatch and the decoy, as well as images and other related evidence gathered by the Predator Poachers participants.
Police say the men showed officers most of the exchanges that had taken place before the meeting. That included text messages and other information that helped investigators determine the nature of the alleged plan.
The arresting officer’s account says that after reviewing the evidence and speaking with Hatch, police believed there was enough support to justify holding him without bail. The case now moves into the court system, where the allegations will be tested through normal legal process.
What happens next in the Iron County case
For now, Hatch remains in the Iron County Jail while prosecutors and the court process the filing. No initial appearance has been set, and there is no public indication yet of when the case will first come before a judge.
The criminal complaint is still in its early stage, based on information police say they gathered during the arrest and from the sting participants. Like any defendant, Hatch is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise.
Further details could come later if prosecutors file additional court documents or if the case proceeds to hearings. For the moment, the central facts are the arrest at SUU, the child-sex sting allegation and the no-bail hold in Iron County.
Local news that matters, from Dulaney Griffin.
