8 felonies filed against Box Elder judge accused of enticing minors on chat app
Criminal charges were filed Monday against a Box Elder County judge accused of sexually enticing minors via a chat app.
Kevin Robert Christensen, 64, is charged in 1st District Court with two counts of enticing a minor using the internet, one second-degree felony and one third-degree felony; plus two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor, three counts of attempted aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and obstruction of justice, third-degree felonies.
Christensen is a judge in Utah's 1st District Justice Court and was arrested and booked into the Davis County Jail on Thursday.
FBI investigators discovered on Feb. 28 that an individual in Box Elder County "was using the internet-based chatting application KIK to communicate with others about sexually abusing children, sexually exploiting children and enticing children," according to charging documents.
The individual was later identified as Christensen, police said, and multiple suspicious chat threads were found on the KIK account. Christensen discussed many personal details about himself and sent multiple photos of him and his family members to other people in those chats, including explicit photos of himself, the charges state.
In one chat on Nov. 2, Christensen was talking to a user who said she was 13 years old and he "directs the conversation toward sexual topics and engages in graphic sexual chats with the child," a police booking affidavit says. He is also accused of sending an unsolicited graphic video to her.
"(Christensen) continues to engage in graphic sexual conversations with the child and states at one point that he has watched child sex abuse materials ... depicting an adult female sexually abusing a child who was approximately 8 years old," according to the charges.
In a separate chat on Sept. 3, Christensen is accused of communicating with a user who said she was 16 years old. Police say Christensen and the girl exchanged explicit photos. "At no point in the chat does either party suggest that this is a roleplay or fantasy chat and the minor female at no point suggests that she is not a minor female," the charges state.
In another conversation on Aug. 10, Christensen was asked what arouses him and he replied, "I love young," the charges allege. "This is common slang for (child sex abuse material) depicting young children."
During an interview with police, Christensen admitted to engaging in "fantasy chats," the charges state. "However, when pressed by law enforcement about soliciting (child sex abuse material) the defendant gave no alternate explanation other than having solicited and received" such material.
The judge said that on Nov. 26, he deleted all evidence of the chats from his devices after learning a "suspected co-conspirator" of his was discovered distributing child sexual abuse material, the charges say, adding that he stopped using the app with the intent to avoid being discovered or arrested by law enforcement.
In other chats, Christensen allegedly made "multiple references" to sexually abusing other children. In the conversation with the 13-year-old, he said he wanted to make an explicit movie with that young teen and another child he knows, according to the charging documents. Police said allegations involving other children are being investigated.
In regards to Christensen's job as a sitting justice court judge, the arresting officer wrote, 'The position of trust he holds in the community and the actions he undertook while in this position significantly undermine the confidence of the community in the legitimacy of the criminal justice system.'
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