UTAH COUNTY, Utah, March 25, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A Utah County man has been arrested on three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
A probable cause statement said Patrick Brady Fox, 39, from Saratoga Springs, was arrested Thursday and transported to Utah County Jail with his bail set at $10,000.
On Dec. 31, 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a Cyber Tip from Instagram, that stated three images had been uploaded showing child pornography involving females between the ages of 6 and 8. The IP address owner who had allegedly uploaded those images was allegedly Fox, the statement said.
A search warrant was requested and served on the suspect’s Saratoga Springs home. Fox was also interviewed at the home. After being read his Miranda rights, Fox allegedly said he had used an Instagram account under the name of Misty Mountain and posed as a 15-year-old girl.
“Patrick confirmed that he has used Instagram to ‘catfish’ people online pretending to be a young female, the statement said. “He stated that he has downloaded hundreds of images of young girls that could be perceived as underage however stated that he got the images from a ‘reputable porn site’ so they could not have been under 18 years old.”
A “quick review” of the suspect’s computer allegedly yielded “several pornographic images of what appeared to be underage girls between the ages of 14 and 16,” the statement said.
Fox also said that he sent other people images from that Instagram account.
His phone and computer were seized and will be reviewed by an evidence technician.
