A board member with the Salt Lake City School District has stepped down after his arrest regarding a child pornography and rape investigation.
“Joél-Léhi Organista, 29, submitted a letter of resignation to Board leadership just before 5:15 p.m. Friday, according to Yándary Chatwin, executive director of communications and community relations with the Salt Lake City School District,” KSL-TV reported Friday.
In a press release, the Utah Attorney General’s Office said its Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) arrested Organista on June 2.
“Organista has been charged with eight counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, a second-degree felony. Organista is a member of the Salt Lake City School Board and has been asked to resign as of June 3, 2021,” the release continued:
Acting on a Cyber Tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, officers uncovered numerous pictures and videos of child pornography on a Dropbox account belonging to Organista. Serving a search warrant, officers also discovered several dozens more such images, including evidence that Organista was communicating directly with children identifying themselves as between the ages of 12-17. Evidence is still being collected from other electronic devices belonging to Organista.
Organista, born in Mexico, is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail as of Friday. The attorney general’s office also shared the Affidavit of Probable Cause, which read in part:
In the Snapchat communications, Joel is clearly notified of the ages of the children and asks for naked photographs and directs the children to do sexual acts. Specifically, in one chat with a self-identified 12 year old boy, Joel directed him to “Show your body like me and we can cum together.” He then said, “So I can see your face. And how you feel good”.
In the interview, Joel stated that during the video chats with these children, they “jerk off together”. Images of the children were exchanged with Joel and are clearly identifiable as child pornography.
In an article titled “Reflection on the Rise and Fall of the Trump Era” posted January 23 on Medium.com, Organista told readers to “Ditch Trump!”:
My final thoughts after reflecting on the past 6 years comes down to inviting everyone to do two things. First, ditch Trump! Republicans, ditch him because he has been bullying your political party and leaders. He has a clear track record to care only for himself. He doesn’t care if your political party dies and has talked about starting his own anyways.
He then urged readers to “keep him accountable.”
“He has caused so much damage in the GOP, the country, government, and lives of people across the world. All his supporters must witness how he is held accountable and they should also be held accountable for any violence and crimes they commit,” he wrote.
In December, the Young People For organization congratulated Organista for being elected to the school board:
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