SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah, Sept. 20, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A Saratoga Springs man has been booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of 20 felonies involving illegal images of children.
Michael Rex Sandburg, 26, was booked Tuesday on suspicion of 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, each a second-degree felony.
According to charging documents, on Aug. 31, several files of suspected child poronography were distributed through an IP address linked to a peer-to-peer file sharing program. An officer downloaded the files, and found them to be of prepubescent females being abused by adult males.
After a court order to obtain the subscriber address, a residential search warrant was served to the residence, and contact was made with Sandberg.
“Post-Miranda warning, Sandberg said that his bedroom is located in the basement and he does not share his bedroom with anyone,” the probable cause statement says.
Sandberg reportedly told investigators he works as a freelance software engineer. After being asked about the peer to peer program, Sandberg reportedly declined to answer further questions and asked for an attorney.
A forensic search turned up “thousands of files of child pornography on Sandberg’s computer located in his bedroom,” the statement says. The peer to peer program used in the sting operation was also found on the computer, the statement says.
Sandberg’s bail was set at $200,200.
