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ST. GEORGE — A southern Utah man has been arrested and accused of possessing child pornography, setting up a hidden camera in his bathroom and having a child sex doll.
James Edgar Conner, 41, of St. George, was arrested Tuesday and charged Wednesday in 5th District Court with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; and three counts of voyeurism by electronic equipment, and possession of a child sex doll, class A misdemeanors.
The investigation began in May when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was notified that suspected child pornography was being uploaded to a cloud storage device. That number was traced to an account in southern Utah and the case was forwarded to the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, according to a police booking affidavit.
Between May and April, nine pictures and eight videos were uploaded, the affidavit states. As of Wednesday, police say "there have been over 30 videos/images of child sex abuse material which has been found" in total.
When Utah investigators viewed the suspected child porn materials, they also "found three videos which appeared to be from a camera which was a hidden camera in the bathroom. There were three different females who were recorded using the bathroom and did not appear to recognize the camera," according to the affidavit.
Agents detained Conner on Tuesday and questioned him. He admitted to searching the internet for pornography to download, the affidavit alleges.
"James also said he had a hidden camera which he had placed in his bathroom to record female friends who would come over to his house," according to the affidavit. Those victims were adults, according to police.
Investigators also served a search warrant on James' residence and found what they believe is a sex doll designed to look like a child that included different outfits, the affidavit states.
"James said he understood how someone could look at the doll and see how it could represent a young teen around the age of 13 and not an adult," the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit.
