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SPANISH FORK — A child pornography investigation into a Spanish Fork man resulted in both a man and his twin brother being arrested Wednesday.
Braxton Dean Ferguson and Braydon Stephan Ferguson, both 22, were booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Braxton Ferguson was also arrested on suspicion of four counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor.
The investigation began on June 29 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip of possible child porn videos being uploaded on the Kik app.
On Wednesday, after investigators said they traced the videos to Braxton Ferguson, members of the Special Victims Unit from the Utah County Sheriff's Office served a search warrant on Ferguson's home where he lives with his brother and grandfather. When questioned, Ferguson said he uses Kik and the Whisper apps "to trade and view child pornography," according to a police booking affidavit.
"I asked Braxton to tell me the last time he viewed any child pornography. He stated that he had received and viewed child pornography early that morning," the arresting detective wrote.
Ferguson also told investigators he has child pornography on his two cellphones, the affidavit states.
"I reviewed one of the cellphones that belonged to Braxton and quickly found thousands of pornographic videos and pictures. I quickly located the video that (was) shared by Braxton on the Kik application as well as several additional video and images depicting child pornography. In the quick review of Braxton's cellphone I identified over 20 files that contained child pornography," the detective wrote. "Braxton admitted that he has been viewing and collecting child pornography for several years."
While detectives were serving the warrant — which allowed them to "seize and examine all electronic devices in the residence" — they questioned Braxton's brother, Braydon, who "was not the main subject of our investigation," a second police affidavit states.
But when a detective asked Braydon Ferguson if he knew why police were there, he admitted that "he looks at pornography and has come across 'those types' of images and has saved them," according to the affidavit. "When asked about 'those types' of images Braydon said images of child pornography."
While searching his phone, detectives also found "several images of young boys that appeared to be taken secretly in public places," according to the affidavit. "Braydon also talked about how he chats with a male online where they share sexually explicit images of young boys with each other and talk about what they would like to do with the boys in the picture."
