Man convicted of rape by jury and sentenced to minimum five years – Iron County Today

By Tracie Sullivan

A former Iron County resident was sentenced to prison last week after a jury convicted him of raping a co-worker in 2021.

Migel Angel Leon Gomez, 28, was sentenced to five years to life in prison for three first-degree felonies, including rape, forcible sodomy and object rape. He was also sentenced to one to 15 years for one count of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

Each charge came with its own sentence, but it was ordered to run concurrently, allowing Gomez to serve them all at once rather than one after the other.

Gomez was found guilty by an eight-member jury after an emotional three-day trial in April of sexually assaulting a co-worker at a Paragonah dairy farm on Halloween morning 2021.

According to court documents, Gomez was arrested in Jerome, Idaho in January 2023 and extradited to Utah.

The affidavit, originally filed in 5th District Court by an Iron County sheriff's investigator, said Gomez was accused of raping and sodomizing an adult co-worker nearly one morning in a shed at their workplace in Paragonah.

The woman reported the incident to her superiors. Gomez was fired and “immediately” left the state. However, detectives found him in Jerome, Idaho, two years later.

Although Gomez told authorities that he and the woman had been in a relationship for approximately three to four months, he was unable to provide officers with her name. The affidavit said he only called her “guera,” which is Spanish slang for “white girl.”

“Gomez explained that in the early hours of the day he was confronted with these allegations, he and 'guera' engaged in consensual sexual relations,” the documents state.

During the trial, Iron County Prosecutor Shane Klenk described in closing arguments what the 25-year-old woman experienced as “a nightmare of sight, sound, smell and pain.” , as she tried in vain to prevent the attack.

“She heard herself saying over and over again to the accused: “No! Stop! This doesn't happen! Klenk told the jury.

In contrast, Gomez continued to stick to the narrative that he and the woman were a couple and that the incident was consensual.

Klenk argued the victim underwent “difficult” counseling and therapy to combat her post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues related to the traumatic event. He also praised her for the strength she showed in returning to work after the incident.

“Not because she didn’t mind going back to the hangar. She continued to work there precisely because it bothered her. She is determined to see that this assault will not define her, that it will not dictate the choices in her life,” Klenk told the jury.

Several letters of support from family members and religious leaders written on his behalf before the sentencing described Gomez as having an upright character.