Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The former director of operations for the Salt Lake City International Airport has been arrested by the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
Randall Darwood Berg, 69, of Draper, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Wednesday and charged Friday in 3rd District Court with 25 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began in January when Google reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone was uploading suspected child pornography to a Google Photos account, according to a police affidavit.
The account was traced to Berg’s home in Draper. An investigator from ICAC looked at the Google file and “found approximately 30,000 images of child pornography in the Google account,” she wrote in the affidavit.
The children in the pictures were between the ages of 5 and 13, according to the report.
On Wednesday, investigators served a search warrant at Berg’s home. He told authorities that he had been viewing child pornography since 2002 and searches for children as young as 8 years old, the affidavit states. Berg said he then typically deletes the images after viewing them, according to the affidavit.
During a search of his desktop computer, approximately 19,000 images “similar to those found on his Google Photos account” were found in the recycle bin, the affidavit states.
Authorities noted in the report that Berg is “well known and well connected” in the aviation industry and have asked for a high $500,000 bail, fearing he “can flee the state of Utah with ease,” according to the affidavit.
Berg, now retired, has been working with airports in Utah, California and Washington for 40 years.
“Berg served for nearly 15 years as director of airport operations for the Salt Lake City Department of Airports. In this position he was responsible for the daily operations of the Salt Lake City International Airport,” according to his bio on aeroplex.net.
After leaving the Salt Lake City International Airport, Berg was the director of aviation for King County Washington at Boeing Field from 2016 to 2018.
The task force has requested that if Berg is able to make bail that he be forced to surrender his passport, wear a GPS ankle monitor, not be allowed to access the internet, and not have contact with anyone under the age of 18.
A spokeswoman with the Salt Lake airport declined comment Friday about his arrest.
