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SALT LAKE CITY — A Sandy man was charged with 10 second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in 3rd District Court Wednesday after officers found more than 300 child pornography files on his computer Monday, according to charging documents.
Benjamin Rodney Berrett, 39, was arrested and booked into Salt Lake County Jail Monday after authorities conducted a search of his computer. Jail records show he was released on $50,000 bail Tuesday, but was arrested again Wednesday after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Detectives began investigating the case on Feb. 18 after a child pornography file was shared with law enforcement over a peer-to-peer network. Authorities then received a court order to receive information about the user from the internet provider, leading them to Berrett’s home address, according to a jail report.
Utah’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force then carried out a search warrant at Berrett’s home Monday night and Barrett “admitted to using peer-to-peer networks to download child pornography,” according to a jail report.
Berrett also told police he deleted the files after “using the child pornography,” according to charging documents.
Authorities seized Berrett’s computer and discovered about 375 files showing sexually explicit images in the recycle bin of the computer, the documents stated.
Berrett's bail was set at $100,000, according to jail records.
