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HURRICANE, Washington County — A special education teacher for preschool children in southern Utah has been arrested and accused of soliciting child sex abuse material.
Benjamin Carl Stewart, 43, of Hurricane, was charged Friday in 5th District Court with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor, all second-degree felonies.
At the time of his arrest Stewart was "employed as a preschool life skills teacher at the Hurricane Early Childhood Center," according to a police booking affidavit. "The representative (with the Washington County School District) equated a life skills teacher to being a special education teacher."
None of the Stewart's alleged victims were students at the school, according to police.
A spokesman for the Washington County School District told KSL.com Stewart was hired in August after passing a background check and was fired on Friday. The school district is unaware of any students being victims.
The investigation began on Feb. 21 based on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a person had uploaded suspected child sex abuse material on Kik.com and was soliciting nude images of children from other users. Investigators later found at least three conversations with the user, determined to be Stewart, and others about trading pornographic images of children, the affidavit alleges.
Tracing the user's IP, investigators linked it to Stewart's school email address and found out that he was "employed by the Washington School Board as of the last quarter of 2023," according to the affidavit.
On Wednesday, investigators received the results from a warrant served on Stewart's Kik account and found "multiple chat records were observed consistent with the chats reported in the CyberTips in which the suspect account exchanged photos, requested nude photos of juveniles," the affidavit says.
Detectives also reported finding statements indicating that Stewart intended to set up hidden cameras in his home.
Thursday, Stewart was detained by police at his school and then taken back to his house where a search warrant was served.
"He stated he had purchased a hidden camera in the past for other purposes, but disposed of it approximately 1 1/2 years ago and did not use it to spy," the affidavit states. "Benjamin's phone was seized as evidence and will be reviewed by investigators. ... No hidden cameras were located at the time of the search warrant service."
