CEDAR CITY — A commercial airline pilot has been arrested in California and brought to Utah to face multiple charges in connection with an alleged “revenge porn” case.
Andrew Hill, 36, of Aurora, Colorado, was booked into Iron County Jail shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Cedar City Police Sgt. Justin Ludlow said two Cedar City Police detectives, acting under the direction of U.S. Marshals Service, picked up Hill at the airport in San Francisco, California, and accompanied him on a flight back to Utah.
According to charging documents filed in 5th District Court on May 24 and amended on June 6, Hill stands accused of two counts of distribution of pornography, each a third-degree felony; one count of unlawful distribution of an intimate image, a class A misdemeanor; one count of stalking, a class A misdemeanor; one count of online impersonation, a class A misdemeanor; and one count of electronic harassment, a class B misdemeanor.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a Cedar City woman reported in January that someone had been creating fake profiles purporting to be her online and distributing nude and intimate images of her on adult websites. The woman’s personal phone number was also shared, which led to random men contacting her for sex, the document alleges.
The woman was reportedly an employee of the same airline and dated Hill more than a decade ago, the document notes.
Using information obtained from warrants served to online companies and cellphone providers, detectives reportedly identified Hill’s electronic devices as the suspected source of the fake accounts, along with the messages and photos shared therein.
Hill, who is being held without bail in Iron County Jail, made his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon via videoconference before 5th District Judge Jeffrey C. Wilcox.
Hill told the court that he plans to hire his own attorney; his next scheduled appearance is a roll call hearing next Monday, July 8.
This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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