- A Murray firefighter was arrested for allegedly attempting to meet a girl to sexually abuse her.
- Tyson David Green, 47, faces 15 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor charges.
- He allegedly distributed child abuse material from his laptop, prosecutors said.
MURRAY — A firefighter arrested and accused of trying to arrange a meeting with a young girl to sexually assault her was also distributing child sex abuse material from his laptop, according to prosecutors.
Tyson David Green, 47, of Layton, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday and charged Friday in 3rd District Court with 15 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony.
Between July 31 and Wednesday, an undercover agent with the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force posed online as a father offering his 9-year-old daughter. He was contacted by Green and the two "had a conversation regarding sexual interest in minors," according to a police booking affidavit.
"When the (undercover agent) asked if he was 'active' with his kids, meaning actively abusing them, he replied with, 'No, I wish,'" the affidavit alleges.
The two continued messaging on an encrypted messaging application. Green said "he had been chatting with 'pdos' (pedos) and that they had sent him a pic and he was hooked," according to the affidavit.
During their messaging, Green also sent images of child sex abuse material to the undercover agent, the affidavit says.
Green was arrested Wednesday "at a fire station in Murray," police noted in the arrest report. "Green is a firefighter/paramedic for Murray Fire Department, and therefore occupies a position of trust and responsibility in the community. He also has expressed a sexual interest in minor females between the ages of 7 and 17."
After arresting him, investigators "obtained a second warrant to seize electronic devices belonging to Green at the Murray fire station where Green was working at the time of his arrest," according to charging documents filed Friday. A MacBook computer was searched and "law enforcement observed that Green has been actively distributing child sex abuse material to many other internet users."
Green was placed on administrative leave Wednesday pending the outcome of an internal investigation, and further action could be taken once that is completed, according to a spokeswoman for the city of Murray.
