Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
AURORA, Sevier County — A central Utah firefighter has been arrested and accused of possessing child sex abuse material and trying to arrange a meeting with an underage girl and her mother so they could start an "incest family."
Gary Joseph "Joe" Hawkins, 44, was booked into the Sevier County Jail on Monday and charged Wednesday in 6th District Court with three counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony and two second-degree felonies. Hawkins "maintains a position of trust as a member of the Aurora Fire Department," according to a police booking affidavit.
Starting in November, an agent with the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking task force posed online as a 43-year-old mother of a 9-year-old girl, and posted messages on websites "intended to attract individuals with a sexual interest in children."
Hawkins contacted the undercover agent and sent messages using the Kik app "to encourage a meeting so he and the (undercover agent) could sexually assault the notional 9-year-old daughter," according to the affidavit.
"Hawkins wanted to impregnate both the (agent) and her purported daughter to create an incest family where there would be more children to sexually abuse," investigators allege in the affidavit. "Hawkins repeatedly asked the (agent) to send nude images of herself and the purported 9-year-old daughter."
During the undercover agent's messaging with Hawkins, he revealed he had child sex abuse material on his phone and sent the agent several images and videos, the arrest report states.
After conducting surveillance on Hawkins' home in Aurora, agents arrested him Monday after pulling him over near the junction of I-70 and U.S. 89.
"During the arrest, agents told Hawkins of the intent to search his residence and vehicles. Hawkins attempted to send his adult son a message from the back of the patrol vehicle. An officer saw a preview of the message which appeared to be instructions to return to the residence to delete or destroy evidence," the affidavit states.
Aurora is located about five miles south of Salina and 13 miles north of Richfield. Its population was less than 1,000 people in the 2020 Census.
