In Utah, crimes for the sexual exploitation of a minor child are prosecuted under Utah code 76-5b-201. The statute prohibits the sexual exploitation of a minor by knowingly possessing or intentionally viewing child sexual abuse material.
Additionally, a parent or legal guardian can be prosecuted if he or she knowingly consented to or permitted the minor to be sexually exploited.
The criminal defense attorneys at Brown, Bradshaw & Moffat, LLP, represent clients for crimes prohibited by Utah's Sexual Exploitation Act.
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The crime of sexual exploitation of a minor is charged as a second-degree felony.
Separate offenses can be charged for each minor depicted in the child sexual abuse material and for each time the same minor is depicted in different child sexual abuse material.
It is an affirmative defense to a charge of violating this section that no person under 18 years of age was actually depicted in the visual depiction or used in producing or advertising the visual depiction. Although, in proving a violation of the statute in relation to an identifiable minor, proof of the actual identity of the identifiable minor is not required.
The code also includes an exemption for those involved in the investigation and judicial processes who may be required to view child pornography during the course and within the scope of their employment such as law enforcement officers, judges, court staff, jurors, lawyers (both prosecuting attorneys and criminal defense attorneys).
Many child pornography cases begin with a tip submitted to the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). For cases in Salt Lake City, Utah, a detective with the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLPD) assigned to the Utah ICAC will be designated as the lead investigator on the case.
The Utah ICAC is a "multi-jurisdictional task force that investigates and prosecutes individuals who use the internet to exploit children." The ICAC task force has local, state, and federal police agency affiliates, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
After the tip, the detective will often secure a warrant to search the suspect’s computers at home or in an office. During the search, the officer will also attempt to interrogate any suspect at the location where the search warrant is being executed.
Utah's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) also attempts to prevent the online distribution of child pornography by searching peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks for child pornography being shared.
Some of these P2P networks allow users to share digital files directly over the internet using a secure hash algorithm (SHA–1). This is an encryption method that assigns a unique digital signature to each file shared over its network. So each digital file has a different SHA–1 value. Law enforcement officers keep a database of thousands of SHA–1 values that correspond to files containing child pornography from previous investigations. Officers search for the identified SHA–1 values and monitor the IP addresses sharing those files. When they find a match, law enforcement officers confirm that the suspect file is indeed child pornography.
After confirming that the identified file is child pornography, the law enforcement officers send an administrative subpoena to the applicable internet service provider to obtain the subscription information associated with the identified IP address. Based on this information, law enforcement officers obtain a search warrant for the suspect's home, business, computers, and other electronic devices.
If you were arrested for possessing, creating, or viewing child pornography in Utah, contact an experienced defense lawyer at Brown, Bradshaw & Moffat.
Our Salt Lake City criminal defense attorneys represent individuals in communities all over Utah. Call (801) 532-5297 or fill out an online contact form to have our lawyers review your case and discuss all of your legal options during a free initial consultation.
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