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SPANISH FORK — A attorney who used to work for the Child Protection Division of the Utah Attorney General's Office has been arrested and accused of possessing child pornography.
Gary Lee Bell, 66, of Spanish Fork, was arrested Wednesday by Utah County sheriff's deputies for investigation of six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The investigation began Aug. 4 when investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of suspected child pornography being uploaded on a social media app. Police say the uploaded explicit images were of children under the age of 10.
On Wednesday, deputies went to Bell's home to serve a search warrant.
"Gary is a retired assistant attorney general from the Utah Attorney General's Office where he worked in the Child Protection Division," detectives noted in a police booking affidavit. The division consists of "a team of experienced child abuse prosecutors and their legal assistants," its website states. The Utah Attorney General's Office says Bell was a child welfare lawyer but did not prosecute cases.
Police have requested that Bell be held in the Utah County Jail without the possibility of posting bail, pending the formal filing of criminal charges because of the "egregiousness of the crime" and also because young children often visit his house, the affidavit alleges.
Bell's LinkedIn page says he started working for the attorney general's office in 2008. A spokesman for the office says he resigned in 2020 but declined to say why, citing personnel matters being private. The attorney general's office also released a brief statement on Bell's arrest Thursday afternoon:
"Mr. Bell deserves his day in court, he is innocent until proven guilty. Our office works diligently to fight the kinds of sexual exploitation Mr. Bell is accused of in the charging docket. We will continue to bring justice for every sexual exploitation case investigated and prosecuted by the attorney general's office. Mr. Bell's prior connection to the office will in no way prevent the course of justice to prevail."
