Federal Prison for Woman in Sex Photo Case

(Tooele, Utah) A 36-year-old local woman, Beth Anne Marie Lake, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson to 63 months in federal prison for possessing a sexually explicit photo of a 14-year-old girl.

Lake gained guardianship of the victim, who is not related to her, in 2006 with the consent of a relative of the girl. According to court records, she took photos of the girl naked and arranged for her to perform a sex act on an adult male friend who was visiting.

An FBI affidavit says the crimes came to the attention of authorities after Lake told an 18-year-old clerk at a Tooele store that the girl had a crush on him. After the clerk received photos of the then-14-year-old girl on his cell phone, some of them sexually explicit, he contacted police. The girl told the clerk that Lake had taken some of the pictures, according to the affidavit.

Lake was also ordered to register as a sex offender.