LOGAN — A 46-year-old Hyrum man has admitted to using his cellphone to download child sexual abuse material. Jesse Laurence Hale was booked into the Cache County Jail in July, after staff at Logan Regional Hospital found his Apple iphone with a picture of a naked little girl on the screen.
According to court records, Hale appeared Sept. 15 in Logan’s 1st District Court. He accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. Fifteen remaining charges were dismissed as part of the agreement.
According to prosecutors, staff at the hospital contacted Logan City Police officers on July 3, reporting a patient had left a cellphone at the facility. The phone had a pornographic photo of a 6 to 9-year-old girl as the lock screen.
On July 7, Hale went to the police department asking about the phone. He told officers that the naked image had been sent to him. He acknowledged that he shouldn’t have the photo but hadn’t deleted it.
Hale reportedly tried to downplay his actions. He told officers that it would be “nice to pay a fine or take a class” instead of going to jail, where he wouldn’t “survive,” according to court paperwork.
Police obtained a warrant and searched the phone, finding 19 additional child sexual abuse images. The majority of the files were of female children between 3 to 14 years of age. The images appeared to be screenshots, showing the website they had been accessed on.
When police told Hale he was going to be arrested, he reportedly admitted to doing something wrong but asked police not to tell his mom. He stated, he had a lot of family in the area and he didn’t want them to know what he did, the arrest affidavit stated.
Hale remains in jail, being held without bail. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 5 and could face more than 15 years in prison.