A former Deseret News journalist who also wrote an independent syndicated column about traditional values was charged Friday for allegedly “enticing” a detective posing online as a 14-year-old girl “to engage in sexual activity.”
The Davis County Attorney’s Office filed third-degree felony charges Friday against Joseph Brent Walker, 70, in 2nd District Court. Walker faces one count of enticing a minor and two counts of distributing material harmful to a minor.
Prosecutors also filed a request asking a judge to issue a no-bail arrest warrant for Walker. Court documents show him residing in Washington, Utah.
Walker worked in various reporting and editing roles at the Deseret News in three separate stints at the company. He left the Deseret News in 2013.
From 1990 to at least 2015, Walker wrote ValueSpeak, a weekly syndicated column that examined contemporary issues through the lens of traditional values. The column appeared in at least 30 newspapers and a number of online publications.
Walker is now a communications director for the Utah Department of Transportation, he confirmed to the Deseret News.
“I’m not aware of these charges,” Walker said when contacted Friday. “So I don’t have anything to say.”
Walker allegedly sent sexually explicit photos to a Layton detective posing as a 14-year-old girl and attempted to entice the apparent teen to engage in sexual activity, according to a declaration by Layton Police Det. Travis Rapp.
Prosecutors filed Rapp’s statement with their application for an arrest warrant.
“Defendant presents a substantial danger to the community, specifically to children,” Rapp alleged in the document.
Rapp created the fictitious 14-year-old as part of an online investigation. The detective posed as the girl in an online dating forum, according to his declaration.
A person using the screen name William Wallace engaged in multiple sexually explicit online conversations with the detective posing as the girl between July 18 and 25, according to Rapp.
The detective alleged that he obtained search warrants and determined through IP addresses and further investigation that Walker was the person using the William Wallace screen name.
Posing as the girl, Rapp allegedly made it “abundantly clear” in the online conversations that the girl was 14. Walker allegedly sent two sexually explicit photos to the fictitious girl, Rapp said. The request for an arrest warrant asks a judge to issue a no-bail warrant for Walker.
A third-degree felony is punishable by up to five years in prison.