LOGAN — A 44-year-old Smithfield man has been arrested for viewing child sexual abuse material online, according to law enforcement. Jacob Aral McConkie was booked Thursday into the Cache County Jail after police executed a search warrant to his home.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, North Park Police officers received a cyber-tip from Google, alleging a user had accessed multiple files of child pornography. The nine images showed minor children exposing themselves.
Investigators tracked the Google account and found it was registered to McConkie.
On May 29, police served a search warrant to McConkie’s residence. He was transported to the police department for questioning.
McConkie admitted to using the Google account, but claimed that when he realized the images sent to him in an email were of juveniles, he got rid of them. He also stated that he knew what he was doing was wrong and stopped doing it.
Jail records show, McConkie was booked on suspicion of nine counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. He is being held without bail, pending arraignment on formal charges in Logan’s 1st District Court.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.