SALT LAKE CITY -- A man who walked into a southern Utah jail to confess he had sexually abused two girls was put behind bars and faces more than a dozen felony charges.

Authorities said they corroborated the allegations with victims in Hurricane and Washington city. Deputies say Nestor Cabada walked into the lobby of the Washington County jail on Tuesday asking to speak to someone in authority.

Lt. Jake Adams, who speaks Spanish, took aside the man, who said a Jehovah's Witness clergyman had urged him "get right with God."

Cabada began confessing so quickly, Adams had to cut him off to read his Miranda rights. "Then we started over," the lieutenant said.

"He made reference to being worried about his eternal soul for what he had done. I don't know if he wanted to get help for himself. I get the sense he wanted his victims to have access to help," Adams said. "He wanted to make things better generally."

Cabada was jailed in lieu of $280,000 bail and formally charged in court Wednesday on 13 felony counts of rape of a child, sodomy on a child and aggravated sex abuse of a child.

A public defender entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf, and Cabada is due to appear in court today for a preliminary hearing.

"I think it's noble and courageous what he did," Adams said. "I think that whatever he gets as far as justice is what he deserves."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D3.