ST. GEORGE — A local man who admitted to possessing dozens of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children appeared in federal court for sentencing on Wednesday.
Stock image of 5th District Court in St. George, Utah | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News
The defendant, James Edgar Conner, 42, of St. George, was sentenced in U.S. District Court on one felony count of receipt of child pornography, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Utah.
During the hearing, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer sentenced Conner to serve 78 months in federal prison, followed by 15 years of post-prison supervision.
The investigation began in May 2022 by the St. George Police Department after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received information through its Cyber Tip Line regarding nine images depicting the sexual abuse of children. The same subscriber uploaded the images beginning at the end of March.
A forensic analysis identified Conner as the individual suspected of uploading the images, and there was also evidence connecting the defendant to the transfer of the illicit images.
During a search of the defendant’s residence on June 27, 2023, officers recovered three cellphones along with a prepubescent child sex doll and covert camera equipment.
Conner told officers he had downloaded pornography on his phone and may have “accidentally” downloaded videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of children, which he later admitted to when more than 600 images were recovered from a number of digital devices. Officers also recovered “voyeurism videos.”
The defendant was arrested two days later, and the Washington County Attorney’s Office filed charges. Conner was booked into jail facing 10 second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Three months later, the case was picked up by federal prosecutors and Conner was indicted on one felony count of receipt of child pornography, according to the indictment filed on Sept. 11, 2023, by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Burton, who prosecuted the case.
Once the federal case was filed, the state charges were later dismissed.
According to the sentencing memorandum submitted to the court before Wednesday’s hearing, all of the children depicted in Conner’s collection were victimized by his actions. Previous victims of child pornography have described — in detail — the pain they suffer based upon the distribution and possession of images and videos of their abuse by individuals like Conner.
The memorandum went on to describe child pornography as images that “depict the worst and most intimate days of a child’s life — the day that they were raped, tortured, assaulted, and-or abused by another.”
Stock image of 5th District Court in St. George, Utah | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News
While the severe damage such images cause to the victims alone warrants a substantial penalty, in Conner’s case, there was evidence of escalating sexual deviancy that “seemingly brings him closer and closer to hands-on sexual offenses.”
At the close of the Wednesday hearing, the judge ordered Conner to pay a $5,000 fine that would be placed in a fund to assist trafficked and exploited children.
The defendant will remain on a federal hold in Washington County until a federal prison facility is designated in the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
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