UT: Former sex crimes prosecutor arrested for child porn
A retired Assistant Attorney General who was employed in the Child Protection Division has been arrested on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Gary Lee Bell, 66, worked with the Utah Attorney General’s Office and prosecuted crimes against children.
Bell was arrested on six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor when authorities at The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip on May 22, 2022 about child sex abuse material being uploaded.
The materials were traced back to Bell’s IP address and personal email. The images uploaded involved a girl as young as 6 years old.
Maybe there is justice somewhere in this world. Now he gets to share the misery he has put many others through.
Oh.
My.
G-d.
Should anybody be surprised about this? There seems to be quite a bit of those hiding in positions like that.
I say sting operations should be run on those who work for ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children). I’m certain there are way more truly guilty ones in that group alone than there are on adult hook up platforms, where they’ve been running their “child predator” sting operations. The actions of those who conduct these string operations on adult content platforms reveal they spend a lot of time thinking about minors in this way, and they go around forcing their own thoughts about that on other men, falsely accusing others of having the same thoughts as them.
Arcely, I admire your dedication and focus on ICAC stings but this guy wasn’t caught in a sting. CP was traced back to his IP and they found it on his computer.
A reminder that CP cases, unlike meetups, are rarely sting operations.
Why am I not surprised?
This guy certainly isn’t the first government official to be caught with it and I doubt he’ll be the last. Seems pretty prevalent that those who have worked to investigate and prosecute CP offenses eventually get caught with it in their private lives.
Willing to bet my new truck that his opinion on the severity of penalties for CP offenses has changed dramatically.
Makes me wonder if his exposure to such material over the years contributed to this because the report also mentions he (allegedly) recorded his wife in the shower without her knowledge or permission. And it seems from the article that he consented to an interrogation wherein he provided his email address. Seems to me that a former prosecutor would not consent to being interviewed nor would he provide incriminating information unless he was trying to get caught.
A funny quirk about us humans: “If I act a certain way, work a certain job and talk loudest against it will prevent them from ever suspecting me.”