CACHE COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) – A former Sky View High School soccer coach has been sentenced to one year in Cache County Jail and four years of probation after he plead guilty to sending sexually charged messages to an undercover officer posting as a teenage girl.

Jorge Alejandro Cruz, 49, received the sentence after he plead guilty to three second-degree felony charges of enticing a minor by internet or text and one third-degree felony of dealing in materials harmful to minors. Cruz’s other four charges, including one count of enticing a minor and three counts of dealing in harmful materials, were dismissed without prejudice as part of the guilty plea.

In April 2022, Cruz was arrested after he began messaging an undercover officer posting as a 13-year-old girl on a social media app. Cruz immediately asked how old the teen was, to which the posing officer said she was in 8th grade.

As the conversations continued, Cruz asked several sexually explicit questions and asked for explicit photos from the girl. Every conversation Cruz had with the undercover officer involved describing explicit sexual acts.

At one point, Cruz had asked the girl to meet but didn’t show up to the arranged meeting saying he was afraid she was an undercover cop. Eventually, investigators traced Cruz’s account to his personal email and approached him.

At the time of the arrest, Cruz denied sending the messages and eventually told police that he was using the app to talk to an 18-year-old girl but stopped because he didn’t want to cheat on his wife.

Cruz initially plead not guilty to all charges before reaching a plea deal to plead guilty to the four aforementioned charges in January 2023.

As part of the plea deal, Cruz will spend one year in Cache County minus 19 days for time already served and be on probation for 48 months after his release. In addition to the jail time and probation, court documents show Cruz will have restricted internet access and will not be allowed to access online chats, pornography, or be around anyone under the age of 18.

The court has also ordered Cruz is not allowed to coach youth athletes.