Richmond man pleads guilty to downloading child porn

Alexander Joseph Chesley jail booking photo. (Photo: Cache County Jail)

LOGAN — A 28-year-old Richmond man has pleaded guilty to downloading child pornography. Alexander Joseph Chesley was originally arrested in March after driving to Logan to try and have sex with an individual who was posing as a 15-year-old girl.

Chesley appeared Wednesday morning in 1st District Court. He accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

In February, the Logan City Police officers received a report from a citizen, who had been posing as the teenage girl and locating local individuals who tried to entice or lure them. The citizen reported that a male individual, later identified as Chesley, had communicated with them over the internet and arranged to meet to have sex. The defendant had also sent the individual an inappropriate photo of themselves.

The citizen told officers, they had waited to meet at the arranged location and confronted Chesley when he arrived. The interaction was filmed by the citizen and provided to investigators.

Using facial recognition software, officers were able to identify Chesley from the video. They later questioned him at the police department, where he admitted to be attracted to girls between 15 and 16-years-old and searching for child pornography on the internet.

Police obtained a warrant to search Chesley’s phone. On it, they located 10 images of child pornography and various search terms in the browsing history. The pictures were estimated to be of girls between 7 and 13-years-old.

Chesley spoke briefly during Wednesday’s court appearance, pleading guilty to the charges and acknowledging they carry a possible maximum sentence of 15-years in prison. He was scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 14.

Since Chesley remains out of jail on $10,000 bail, Judge Brian Cannell restated his previous order that the defendant have no access to the internet and is prohibited from being around young children.


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