WEST HAVEN, Utah, March 5, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — A 46-year-old West Haven man has been arrested for 20 counts of alleged sexual exploitation of a child, and the Weber County Sheriff’s Office says he confessed to altering at least one pornographic image to include the face of a local girl whose image he gleaned from social media.
Sean Patrick Layton was arrested for investigation of 10 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony; and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The Weber County Sheriff’s Office received a cybertip from an online photo editing application involving suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the agency said in a news release. They were able to identify the account holder as Layton.
“Through the investigation, detectives also learned that the suspect was sexually exploiting children, both local and throughout the country, by editing their faces onto CSAM,” the WCSO statement says.
His arrest documents say Layton’s files depict both male and female children, approximately ages 8 to 12, posed in sexual positions while unclothed or partially clothed. Some files show the children performing sex acts on adult males, “and appear to have been edited,” Layton’s affidavit says.
“The user on the account was identified as Sean Layton through the verified email address associated with the photo editing application.” Photos of Sean were also discovered in the account, “with many of them being edited to depict Sean performing sexual acts on the children depicted in the files.”
One face that appears to be edited into a pornogrpahic image has been confirmed as that of a 15-year-old Utah girl, the statement says.
“A total of at least 10 of the manufactured child sexual abuse material were located within the account and at 10 files depicting child sexual abuse material and child sexual exploitation material were located.
“During an interview with Sean, he admitted to being the user on the account and editing the files with him in them, including the one of the 15-year-old female. Sean admitted to creating the CSAM images using artificial intelligence (AI). During a search of Sean’s cellular device, several more files of CSAM were located that depicted unclothed female and male children, approximately 8 to 12 years old that appear to have been created using artificial intelligence.
“Additional files were discovered with the faces of female children being cropped onto nude female bodies, including one additional female child that has been identified.”
Layton was arrested Tuesday after a warrant was served on his residence.
“Detectives located evidence related to this case and obtained a confession from the suspect,” a WCSO news release says.
“Some of the images the suspect used of children’s faces were obtained through public social media accounts. The Weber County Sheriff’s Office reminds parents and caregivers to privatize access to any account featuring photos of their children as a general safety precaution.”
Weber County detectives regularly conduct internet safety presentations to the community, the release says, adding, “Please watch social media for upcoming presentations.”
