SALT LAKE CITY -- Tony Yapias, a prominent activist for the Latino community in Utah, will serve 15 days in jail after he was accused of raping a woman he previously had a relationship with.

Yapias was charged with rape and evidence tampering in 2016 after his ex-girlfriend said he assaulted her 10 days after their relationship ended.

At the time he served as director of the advocacy group Proyecto Latino de Utah.

Yapias ultimately pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and unlawful detention as class A misdemeanors. Authorities had previously stated Yapias had deleted an exchange of text messages between him and the woman.

Yapias will begin serving the 15 day sentence later this month. He spoke to Fox 13 after the sentencing.

“It’s important to understand that our judicial system works, I mean, it’s fair: I don’t see it negatively,” Yapias said. “I think it works when you fight. If you don’t fight you can end up, you know, I could have been in prison or in jail for a long time.”