Man sentenced to at least five years in prison by jury for rape – Iron County Today

By Tracie Sullivan

A former Iron County resident was sentenced to prison last week after a jury found him guilty 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, sodomy and rape with objects. He also received a sentence of one to 15 years for one count of sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

Each count carried a separate sentence, but they had to be served concurrently, so Gomez could serve the sentences all at once rather than consecutively.

Gomez was found guilty by an eight-person jury in April after an emotional three-day trial of sexually abusing 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, says Gomez is accused of raping and anally abusing an adult co-worker one morning in a cabin at her workplace in Paragonah.

The woman reported the incident to her superiors. Gomez was fired and “immediately” taken out of the state. Two years later, however, detectives found him in Jerome, Idaho.

Although Gomez told authorities he and the woman had been in a relationship for about three to four months, he could not give officers her name. The affidavit states he referred to her only as “guera,” which is Spanish slang for “white girl.”

“Gomez stated that he and ‘Guera’ had consensual sex in the early morning hours of the day he was confronted with these allegations,” the documents state.

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

“She heard herself repeatedly telling the defendant, ‘No! Stop! This is not happening!'” Klenk told the jury.

Gomez, on the other hand, continued to insist that he and the woman were in a relationship and that the incident was consensual.

Klenk argued that the victim had undergone “relentless” counseling and therapy to combat her post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues brought about by the traumatic event. He also praised her for her strength in returning to work after the incident.

“Not because she didn’t mind returning to the cabin. She continued working there because it bothered her so much. She is determined to ensure that this attack does not define her and does not dictate her life choices,” Klenk told the jury.

In several letters of support written on his behalf by family members and church leaders before the verdict, Gomez was described as an honorable character.