Booking photo for Trei J. Stenlund (Courtesy: Cache County Jail)
LOGAN — A 25-year-old Hyrum man suspected of downloading child pornography has waived his right to a preliminary hearing and pleaded “not guilty.” Trei J. Stenlund was arrested in April after police executed a search warrant at his home.
Stenlund participated in a virtual hearing in 1st District Court Monday afternoon, appearing by web conference. He was previously charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
Defense attorney David Perry said they wished to waive their preliminary hearing, where a judge would have determined whether or not prosecutors had sufficient evidence to bind the suspect over for trial.
Judge Brandon Maynard allowed the hearing to be waived and bound Stenlund over for trial on all of the charges. He also ordered him to appear again in court Mar. 1.
According to an arrest report, Logan City police officers received a Cybertip alleging that Stenlund was using a file sharing service to trade child pornography. The account contained 100 suspected files. Some of the material involved children believed to be as young as 4-5 years old.
Police officers served the warrant to Stenlund’s home and questioned him. They also secured his cell phone as evidence.
Stenlund told officers he had been trading pornography through file sharing sites because “he is interested in amateur pornography, not staged or professionally produced pornography.” He said if the links he received had any files depicting underage people, he would delete them.
However, when officers went through Stenlund’s phone during the interview they found at least 10 more files of child pornography. Some of the material was the same photos and movies from his file sharing account.
Stenlund is currently out of jail after posting $10,000 bail. He could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
will@cvradio.com