LOGAN — A 66-year-old Wellsville man is headed to prison for downloading child pornography over the internet. Curtis Wayne Lee, who previously was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, was sentenced to two consecutive terms of one to 20 years, after a judge called him a “danger to children.”
Lee was sentenced Monday, April 29, in Logan’s 1st District Court. He previously pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
According to prosecutors, a member of the Logan Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force began investigating Lee in August 2023 after detecting a computer downloading child pornography. The agent was using investigative software to monitor file sharing networks, known as BitTorrents.
The officer found over a dozen photos being shared by a computer in Wellsville. The images were of a 10 to 12-year-old girl in various pornographic poses.
Officers later served a warrant to the home and took Lee into custody. They also seized a laptop, multiple hard drives, and other digital storage devices.
Investigators performed a digital forensic analysis on the laptop and hard drive, finding more sexual images children, including pictures of a girl being sexually abused by an adult male. The laptop also had software installed on it designed to permanently erase files and logs.
During questioning, Lee reportedly told police he was sexually interested in children and viewed child pornography as an outlet for his desires. He also implied that looking at explicit material helped keep him from sexually abusing children.
Court records show, Lee was arrested in 1997 for molesting two young girls. The crimes occurred repeatedly over a period of time. He was later convicted of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony, and sentenced to serve one year in jail.
During Monday’s sentencing, defense attorney Shannon Demler said Lee was a “good husband and father.” He asked the court for a lighter sentence explaining how his client was a “good man who got involved in pornography to cope with stress.”
Lee admitted to breaking the law and screwing up badly, letting his family and the community down. After apologizing to the victims of child pornography, he asked for mercy, stating that due to his age, doing time in prison could be a life sentence.
Judge Spencer Walsh said crimes like Lee’s couldn’t be tolerated by the court. He explained how the defendant posed a danger to the community because of his continued attraction to children.
Lee was given credit for 265 days already served. It will be up to the Utah Department of Probation and Parole to determine when he is released, possibly as soon as August 2025.