LOGAN — A 24-year-old Logan man has been arrested for allegedly downloading child sexual abuse material, according to law enforcement. Jose Manuel Rodriguez was booked into the Cache County Jail after officers found videos on his phone of children being raped by adults.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Rodriguez went to the Logan City Police Department and claimed he had downloaded child sexual abuse material. He explained how he had been scrolling on TikTok and saw a video of a young girl exercising. He later downloaded a program called Telegram, a messaging app.
Police inspected Rodriguez’s phone, finding 4-6 message threads where he was offering to purchase child sexual abuse material in exchange for gift cards.
A search warrant was drafted for Rodriguez’s phone. When questioned by investigators, he was vague as to why he had done this but inferred he was curious and wanted to know if it was really possible to obtain child sexual abuse material easily, according to charging documents.
Police searched the phone and located eight videos and photos of young children being sexually assaulted and exploited. There were also messages from Rodriguez purchasing the material with gift cards, which he claimed couldn’t be traced.
According to court records, Rodriguez has been charged in Logan’s 1st District Court with eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. He has yet to make an initial appearance before a judge.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.