Six new felony charges were filed last week against an 18-year-old Bellevue man who earlier this year was charged with a single count of sexual abuse of a minor child under 16.
An amended criminal complaint was filed on April 8 against Riley Michael Beck. According to the complaint, the sexual-abuse charge against Beck has now been amended to “sexual exploitation of a child.” In addition, Beck is now charged with five counts of “enticement of a child through use of the Internet or other communication device” and one count of “disseminating material harmful to minors.”
The criminal complaint states that the charges against Beck involve alleged illegal conduct with at least four girls. Three of them are 14 and one is 12.
Beck is accused in the complaint of “inducing or permitting” one alleged victim to provide indecent images of herself. He is accused of at least five times attempting to seduce alleged victims for sex acts through cellular phone messages. He is furthermore accused of sending one alleged victim indecent video images of himself.
Beck was originally arrested by Hailey police on Feb. 24 on the sexual-abuse charge. According to court records, he pleaded not guilty to that charge and was released from custody on Feb. 26 after posting $5,000 bond.
A preliminary hearing in Blaine County Magistrate Court was earlier scheduled for today. However, with the new charges filed against Beck, the preliminary hearing has been rescheduled to May 14.
The hearing is scheduled to be heard by Magistrate Judge Casey Robinson, who normally presides in Gooding County. According to court records, the case was assigned to Robinson because both Beck and some of the alleged victims have parents who are either employed by Blaine County or a police agency in Blaine County. For the same reason, Julie Sturgill, a deputy prosecutor with the Twin Falls Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, has been assigned as special prosecutor.
Ketchum attorney Andrew Parnes has been appointed public defender.
