Spanish Fork twin brothers charged in child pornography investigation

SPANISH FORK, Utah — Twin brothers in Spanish Fork were charged Monday with exchanging child pornography with others online.

Braxton Dean Ferguson and Braydon Stephan Ferguson, both 22, are charged in 4th District Court with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony. Braxton Ferguson was also charged Monday with an additional 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, while Braydon was charged with four counts of the same crime.

The investigation began in June when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip of possible child pornography videos being uploaded on the Kik app. After allegedly tracing the source of the videos to Braxton Ferguson, members of the Special Victims Unit from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant on his home on Nov. 9.

Braxton Ferguson told investigators “he was hoping to trade” the videos for different child porn, according to charging documents, and also told police that they would find child pornography on his cellphone.

While Braxton was being questioned, officers also talked to Braydon Ferguson who they say was not the original target of the investigation. But while questioning him, he also admitted to viewing child pornography and “exchanging it with another individual online where they talk about what they would like to do to the children in the images,” according to the charges.

Investigators looked through Braydon Ferguson’s phone and found four inappropriate pictures of teen boys, and noted that “some of the images appeared to have been secretly taken in public places,” the charges allege.

Both brothers were taken into custody after being questioned.