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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake police officer has been placed on administrative leave after the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested him for allegedly having child pornography in his home.
Jonathan Issac Dew, 39, of Syracuse, was booked into the Davis County Jail Wednesday night for investigation of three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
In a prepared statement issued Thursday, the police department said Dew, who has been with Salt Lake police for about 12 years, had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of two investigations — one by another department and one internally.
"An internal affairs investigation was opened immediately upon notification to our agency. The officer will remain on leave until the completion of these investigations," the statement says.
The investigation into Dew by the Utah attorney general's task force began Oct. 20 when undercover agents "received requests to download files of known child pornography," according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
Wednesday, task force investigators went to Dew's Syracuse home. A laptop was located "in a closet in a room where only Dew frequents in the residence," the report states.
Investigators say Dew's wife told them she thought the laptop "was broken and did not know it still worked."
Child pornography files were found on the computer, the report states. Dew was at work at the time.
Task force investigators went to the Salt Lake City Police Department to interview him. He was then taken into custody, the report states.
The attorney general's office has asked that Dew be held on $500,000 bail. Investigators believe he poses a high risk because there are children in his house, family members said he suffers from depression, and a firearm was "located in almost every room of the residence," according to the report.
