SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah, Nov. 10, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Salt Lake County man is facing 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, after thousands of pictures and videos of child pornography were allegedly found on his cellphone.
A probable cause statement from the 3rd District Court of Salt Lake County said Jason Randy Smith, 35, was arrested Wednesday and transported to the Salt Lake County Jail with his bail set at $500,000.
On Aug. 16 of this year, Snapchat filed a report with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an account that contained uploaded images and videos of suspected child pornography. On Aug. 26, the subscriber to the IP address was traced to the Salt Lake area.
On Nov. 6, the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a residential search warrant at the address in the Salt Lake area, and contact was made with Jason Smith at the residence.
After being read his Miranda rights, Smith admitted to having evidence of child pornography on his cell phone.
During the interview, Smith admitted to taking voyeuristic photos of a 15-year-old girl he had a personal relationship with, while she was sleeping. He also admitted to taking other voyeuristic photos of other young teenage girls without their knowledge. In addition, he admitted to owning the Snapchat account that had been reported to police.
Videos and photos of child pornography were reported in that Snapchat account, including the voyeuristic photos of the 15-year-old sleeping female.
“On scene forensics of Smith’s cell phone showed that a large amount of evidence of child pornography was present,” the statement said. “Thousands of pictures and videos of child pornography were found on Smith’s iPhone 8.”
Smith was also charged in 2003 with sexual battery.
