Utah County man charged with child sex abuse now faces child porn allegations

A Payson man already charged in two counties with committing sex crimes against children is now being held for investigation of child pornography.

A Payson man already charged in two counties with committing sex crimes against children is now being held for investigation of child pornography. (Spaxiax, Shutterstock)


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PAYSON — A Payson man already facing numerous charges of sexually abusing multiple girls is now being held in the Utah County Jail for investigation of child pornography.

Jonathan Allyn Babb, 56, is currently charged in two cases in Salt Lake and Utah counties with a total of 17 first-degree felonies, including 13 counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child, aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, sodomy on a child, and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

The charges represent abuses that police say were committed against seven victims dating back to 2007, and some as young as 6 years old.

At the time of his arrest in July, police seized Babb's cellphone and other electronic devices from his Payson home, as well as memory cards found in hidden cameras, and sent them to a lab for analysis.

"As a result of the forensic examination 488 images of child pornography were identified on Babb's electronic devices," a police booking affidavit filed Wednesday states. "The images of child pornography discovered on Babb's electronic devices appeared to have been viewed or downloaded from the internet."

Some of the extremely graphic pictures include images of bestiality, the affidavit states. In addition to Babb's criminal charges, he is now being held in the Utah County Jail for investigation of three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Babb's next court hearing in Utah County is scheduled for Monday. His next hearing in Salt Lake County is scheduled for March 17.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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