Former BYU professor charged with explicitly messaging 'teen girl' handed 3 years on probation

BRIGHAM CITY — A former BYU professor who was charged with sending sexually explicit messages and pictures to someone he thought was a teen girl was sentenced to three years on probation.

Stephen Henry McKean, 32, of Springville, was charged in 1st District Court in Box Elder County in April with distributing harmful materials to a minor, a third-degree felony and three counts of enticing a minor, a class A misdemeanor.

In May, McKean pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of distributing harmful materials to a minor, a class A misdemeanor, and one count of enticing a minor, also a class A misdemeanor.

He was sentenced on June 29 to 364 days in jail for both charges, but the terms were suspended and he was given credit for the 32 days he had already served. He is ordered to serve three years on probation, under the strictest sex offender group conditions, according to court documents.

A court order on Aug. 3 ruled McKean will be allowed to reside at his home, with his minor children, unsupervised.

In March, an investigator working in a joint operation with the Box Elder County Attorney's Office and the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children task force was posing online as a 17-year-old girl when he was contacted by McKean, according to a police booking affidavit.

"(McKean) continued to communicate with the purported 17-year-old and expressed concerns that it was illegal. Nevertheless, (he) continued to converse about the possibility of meeting up for sexual acts. (McKean) described in graphic detail the sexual acts he wanted to engage in with the purported 17-year-old, which included sexual intercourse," charging documents state.

McKean also sent the undercover investigator an explicit picture of himself, according to the charges.

"I also asked the user for his name, he stated his name was Steve, along with that, during our conversation, Steve states that he is a professor of math/science at a university," the affidavit states, while also noting, "Eventually the conversation turns back sexual."

After sending several explicating messages, the affidavit states that the next day, "Steve states that he is deleting his account and cuts off communications with my undercover account."

After serving search warrants, investigators traced the messages back to an IP address from a home in Springville.

McKean was an assistant professor of math, according to his online bio. BYU issued a statement shortly after his arrest saying McKean had been placed on administrative leave effective immediately. According to school spokesman Todd Hollingshead, McKean's employment at BYU officially ended on May 8.

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