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SPRINGVILLE — A Springville man who police say was a youth leader at his church was arrested Tuesday and accused of possessing child pornography.
Kevin G. Sykes, 54, was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The investigation began last week when a manager at Geneva Rock called the Utah County Sheriff's Office to report he had found suspected child pornography on an employee's phone. The employee, Sykes, had asked the manager to download work-related apps on his phone that employees are required to have. The manager "thought this was odd because this was the second time that week Kevin had said his phone was factory reset and needed to have the apps downloaded," according to a police booking affidavit.
When the manager opened the internet browser on Sykes' phone, he found suspected child pornography, the affidavit states. A deputy first questioned Sykes on March 30 about the images on his phone.
"Kevin said the images were 3D art that is graphic but only drawings," according to the affidavit. "Kevin went on to explain he views these types of images when he is feeling out of control, when he is upset about his job or life, and it makes him feel more in control."
When asked if he had viewed child pornography involving real children, Sykes told the deputy no, and that "the 3D art does not depict any victims or children being hurt, and he loses interest if it is a real child because he does not want to hurt anyone," the affidavit states. "Kevin explained he likes 'stories' of children being abused and how they overcome it."
The 3D images depicted boys between the ages of 8 and 16, according to the sheriff's office, who noted that Sykes "has a position in his church where he works with young men and boys in the same age range as those depicted in the pictures found on his phone," according to a statement from the sheriff's office.
Investigators seized Sykes' phone and conducted a more extensive search and found he had searched for terms such as "human trafficking of boys," "movies with teenage boys prostitute" and "images of boys who have been beaten whipped," the affidavit alleges. They also reported finding four images of boys that were not computer animated.
Sykes was reinterviewed on Tuesday and arrested after being told of the discovery.
