Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — A Sandy couple who faced multiple felony charges accusing them of accessing child sex abuse material while working at a home day care will not serve time in prison.
Kadence Pinder, 25, and Marcus Strebel, 30, were sentenced on Friday and March 21, respectively, after each pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, earlier this year. Pinder faced 15 counts of the aforementioned charge and Strebel faced 10 counts, though the remaining charges were dismissed as part of plea agreements.
Pinder had a potential prison sentence suspended Friday, and she was sentenced to 300 days in a county jail with credit for time served. Court records did not note exactly how many days Pinder had served in jail. Strebel also had a potential prison sentence suspended, as he was sentenced to one year in a county jail. Strebel was given credit for 110 days he previously served in jail.
Once they are released, both Pinder and Strebel will be placed on probation for four years, and both must register as sex offenders, according to court records.
The two were charged in February 2021, as prosecutors from the Utah Attorney General's Office accused the two of uploading child sex abuse material to a Google account. Investigators later executed a search warrant on two Google accounts, and they found child pornography on both, charging documents say. Though both were initially booked into jail on no-bail warrants, both were later granted pretrial release in March 2021.
However, both landed back in jail after they were found to have violated their pretrial release conditions.
Neither Pinder nor Strebel was allowed to access the internet or have contact with anyone under the age of 18 as part of their pretrial release conditions. An investigator with the Internet Crimes Against Children task force received a tip that suspected child pornography was uploaded to the Sandy address where Pinder and Strebel previously lived, which was an at-home day care operated by one of their family members. Investigators later observed the two inside the residence during business hours of the day care.
Police executed a search warrant at the home in December and found Pinder and Strebel were living in the home and had access to the internet. The violations caused both of their pretrial releases to be revoked.
The day care, located on Benson Way in Sandy, was shut down by the Salt Lake County Health Department after police found what they believed to be methamphetamine during the same raid. The suspected narcotics were found in a living area away from the day care area of the home.
As of Monday, both were serving their jail sentences in the custody of the Salt Lake County Jail.
