SALT LAKE CITY — A registered sex offender who was sent to prison for exchanging explicit photos with a 15-year-old girl in Georgia now faces new criminal charges.
Steven Richard Harrison, 39, of Vernal, was charged Tuesday in 8th District Court with sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony; and failing to register as a sex offender, a third-degree felony.
Harrison is accused of uploading child pornography to an email address that he had not registered with the state as required due to his previous conviction, according to charging documents.
In 2009, Harrison was convicted of three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, dealing in harmful materials to a minor and unlawfully providing shelter to a runaway. His sentence of up to five years in the Utah State Prison was suspended and Harrison was placed on probation. He violated that probation, however, and was sent to prison on his original sentence.
Harrison also picked up new charges while on probation. He was charged and convicted in 2011 of enticing a minor over the internet and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for sending explicit pictures to a teenage girl in Georgia, and was sentenced to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison, according to court records,
According to a police affidavit for Harrison’s latest arrest, Harrison told investigators that he created an email account shortly after being released from prison in 2018.
“He had initially created this email as a means for looking for sex on dating websites and after a short period began to use it to collect child pornography,” the affidavit states.
Once his email account was disabled by Google, Harrison admitted “he was nervous and dreaded the day law enforcement would come to speak to him,” according to the affidavit. Nevertheless, Harrison said he continued to look at child pornography.
“Steve admitted to having a problem with child pornography and had intended to slowly move away from it as he could not stop viewing it ‘cold turkey,’” the affidavit says.
Investigators seized multiple electronic devices from his home and said they “anticipate further criminal charges will be forthcoming.”