SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah, June 3, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A registered child sex offender was arrested Monday after officials say he was found to be in possession of 1,500 images of child pornography.
Andrew John Lyon, 33, is now charged with 10 second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
In January of this year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported an electronic storage account with images of child pornography, according to a probable cause statement filed in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake County.
One of the images was of an approximately 12-year-old girl in a sexually suggestive pose. This image was similar to and representative of the other images initially reported.
In March of this year, a search warrant was served on the storage account, and in May, the results were received, the charging document says.
“There were approximately 1,500 files depicting female children posing clothed, unclothed, and in sexually suggestive positions,” the document says.
Some of the images are “selfies,” and others were clearly taken by someone else. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported that at least 87 of the children were identified.
During the investigation, the document says, an address in Salt Lake County was identified as being used to access the electronic storage account, and on June 1, a search warrant was signed and served at the address.
Andrew Lyon was in the home when the warrant was served. Lyon was previously convicted of abusing a family member.
While being interviewed Monday, he admitted to owning the reported storage account and admitted to using chatting applications and requesting links to pornography depicting young children, the charging documents says.
He also admitted to currently fantasizing about other young family members, as well children he would see in the store, and admitted to taking voyeuristic images of neighborhood children as they played in their yards.
Lyon was booked into Salt Lake County Jail, with bail set at $100,000.
