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SALT LAKE CITY — Police have arrested a man accused of possessing thousands of images of child pornography, including some pictures that he took himself.
Austin Kyle Stewart, 32, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of three counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and 15 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The investigation began in October when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received several reports of someone who had "uploaded hundreds of files depicting child pornography" to an account, according to a police affidavit. It was determined that the user was in Utah and the Utah Attorney General Office's Internet Crimes Against Children task force was contacted.
After identifying Stewart as a suspect, a search warrant was served on his home on Tuesday.
"Over 8,000 files, images and videos of evidence of child pornography were found on two devices belonging to Austin Stewart. The evidence of child pornography depicts children between the ages of an infant to 12 years old," according to the affidavit.
Five of the photos were photos taken by Stewart, who is also believed to have sexually abused the child, the affidavit states.
