Former Air Force major's appeal denied in sex case

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has denied an appeal by a retired Air Force major convicted of enticing a minor over the Internet.

Fifty-year-old Reinaldlo Canton had appealed his conviction, claiming the two-year statute of limitations for the state to file charges had run out.

But the state high court upheld the state court’s conviction, siding with prosecutors who argued the statute of limitations does not run while a defendant is out of state.

According to the ruling, Canton was working as a rocket science program manager for the Air Force in Albuquerque, N.M., when he arranged to have sex with an undercover agent posing as a young girl.

He was arrested in 2007 after he traveled to Layton to meet her. He moved to Florida after the arrest.

Canton pleaded guilty in 2011 to one misdemeanor count of enticing a minor over the Internet in exchange for the dismissal of two identical charges.