EVANSTON — A 31-year-old Evanston man appeared in Third District Court on Tuesday, Aug. 28, to be arraigned on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and attempted second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Sean Wayne Weston entered not guilty pleas on both counts.

According to court documents, during an investigation into an incident involving Weston and a female client when he was working as a personal trainer, Facebook messages between Weston and “various female individuals who were under the age of 18 years old” were discovered. 

One of those female individuals was 15 years old at the time Weston allegedly sent her messages of a sexual nature and asked her to send him nude photos of herself. Court documents list multiple messages wherein Weston allegedly made sexual comments to the girl, including some indicating he knew she was a minor. 

Court documents also allege Weston tried to get the girl to sneak out of her parents’ home and tried to arrange times for her to babysit his young child overnight. 

The messages between Weston and the girl were allegedly sent over a period of months in the summer of 2015.

The incident involving the female client went to trial earlier this year when Weston was found not guilty on a charge of first-degree sexual assault. He was also charged with attempted sexual exploitation of a minor related to messages and a relationship with another girl who was 17 at the time of contact; however, Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson indicated in court on Tuesday that charge would be dismissed without prejudice. 

Trial on the two counts from Tuesday’s arraignment is scheduled to begin on Oct. 23. If found guilty, Weston faces a sentence of no less than five and no more than 12 years on the attempted sexual exploitation charge and no more than 20 years on the attempted second-degree sexual abuse charge, along with a maximum $10,000 fine on each count.