A Salt Lake City police officer arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography has been charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Jonathan Dew, 39, was placed on administrative leave by the SLCPD after the agents from the Utah Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force alerted the department of the arrest.
“The officer will remain on leave until the completion of these investigations," the SLCPD said in a statement.
Charges were filed Friday in Second District Court in Farmington.
According to a probable cause statement, ICAC agents became aware of requests to download files of child pornography “featuring toddler-aged children being sexually abused by an adult female and adult male” on Oct. 20. They traced the the internet connection being used to Dew’s home in the Syracuse area, where a laptop that belonged to Dew was located during the execution of a search warrant. It contained files showing adults performing sex acts on boys from age 8 and younger.
Dew was booked into the Davis County jail on suspicion of three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Bail was set at $500,000; he has not yet been formally charged.