A Utah judge has been taken into custody on multiple charges related to child sex crimes, as authorities are delving into allegations that he mentioned having sexually assaulted family members who are minors.
Kevin Christensen, a judge at the First District Justice Court and aged 64, is under scrutiny for attempting to engage a minor in sexual activities, distributing inappropriate material to a minor, and trying to exploit a minor sexually as detailed by KUTV.
According to court documents, the FBI launched an inquiry into Christensen on February 28 after receiving information about a man in Box Elder County using a mobile application to discuss sexually mistreating, exploiting, and luring children.
The affidavit says that Christensen was also chatting with children and sending them explicit photos.
In one conversation, on the app KIK, Christensen talked with a user who told him she was 13, KSL reported. He “directs the conversation towards sexual topics and engages in graphic sexual chats with the child, the affidavit says.
In another chat with a girl who said she was 16, Christensen engaged in a “graphic sexual conversation” and apparently sent her explicit photos of himself, although investigators were unable to see the photos.
In conversations with adults, he solicited child sexual abuse material and discussed his sexual interests in young children. He made several references in those chats to sexually abusing relative children, the affidavit says.
A judge granted an order to hold the judge without bail after police indicated that he was a strong candidate to flee.
Christensen was appointed to the bench in Box Elder County in 1996, KUTV reported.
