Kaw The Blay booking photo from the Cache County Jail.
LOGAN — A 29-year-old Hyrum man is behind bars for six months for sharing child pornography through social media. Kaw T. Blay was taken into custody by bailiffs after asking the court not to send him to jail.
Blay was sentenced Monday morning in 1st District Court. He previously pleaded “no contest” to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The plea meant he conceded the alleged charge occurred without admitting guilt or offering a defense. It is still viewed as a guilty plea in court.
Prosecutors report, Logan City Police officers received a cybertip from the Utah Attorney General’s Office in July 2021. It described how several Facebook users were sharing child pornography through Facebook Messenger. The file was a video of a 5 to 8-year-old girl exposing herself.
Police were able to identify Blay and the other users involved from their Facebook profiles. They were reportedly all friends and co-workers. The other suspects were arrested and charged previously.
Blay was arrested in March and later released on $30,000 bail.
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, defense attorney Ray Malouf said Blay had a difficult childhood, leaving his country as a teenager and receiving only a limited education. He asked the court for mercy, claiming his client didn’t know what he did was against the law.
Judge Spencer Walsh said he realized that Blay had a tough life growing up but had to know what he was doing was wrong. He noted how child pornography “exploits and harms little children,” who need to be protected in our community.
Blay spoke briefly through an interpreter, asking the court if he could pay a fine instead of going to jail.
Judge Walsh refused Blay’s request saying, “a message needs to be sent that child pornography is not tolerated in our community.” He ordered him to serve 190 days in jail with work release, and undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation and treatment. The judge also prohibited him from having any internet access unless approved by probation agents.
will@cvradio.com