SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah, March 3, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Two Sandy daycare workers have been charged with allegedly possessing child pornography.
Probable cause statements from the 3rd District Court of Salt Lake County said Kadence Pinder, 25, is facing charges of 15 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. Her boyfriend, Marcus Strebel, 29, faces 10 counts of the same charge.
The statement says that Pinder and Strebel live in a home in Sandy that is also used as a daycare, and are employees of that business.
On Dec. 2, 2019, Google filed a CyberTip, reporting that one of their users had uploaded child pornography to their account. Five days later, Google filed a second CyberTip that the same user had again uploaded child pornography. The user account was identified as Kadence Pinder.
A search warrant was executed on the two suspected Google email accounts, and images of child pornography were allegedly located.
On Nov. 2, 2020, after an investigation, Pinder was interviewed at the residence in Sandy. She confirmed that she currently uses one of the email addresses and had previously used the other. She also confirmed the cell phone connected with the accounts was hers.
“When asked whether she had ever seen child pornography, Pinder stated she may have come across child pornography while browsing Tumblr but denied intentionally downloading any,” the statement said. “When asked about specific files of child pornography I had located in the Google accounts, Pinder stated they sounded familiar but if she downloaded them, it was only because she thought they were of age.”
Pinder also said Strebel had access to her Google account and may have “accidentally” downloaded something.
Strebel was also interviewed; he said he and Pinder had come across child pornography depicting children as young as 3 or 4 years old, while browsing Tumblr for pornography in the past year. He stated he had clicked on links and seen child pornography but had not downloaded anything questionable, and that he and Pinder had seen child pornography images while using both of their phones but had not downloaded anything.
The arresting officer asked the two if they would consent to a search of their phones. They both agreed initially and went back into the residence to retrieve their phones. After more than 30 minutes, Strebel returned and refused to provide their phones.
After search warrants were obtained for both phones, the arresting officer seized them on Nov. 7. Forensic analysis allegedly revealed child pornography on both phones. The counts above are representative of roughly 125 images of child pornography found on Pinder’s phone.
Pinder and Strebel are being held without bail.
