School bus attendant charged with downloading child sex abuse material
Dec 16, 2024, 10:31 PM | Updated: Dec 19, 2024, 4:21 pm
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Canyons School District said on Thursday the driver was put on leave as soon as they heard the allegations, and the driver has since been fired.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man who police say works as a school bus attendant was charged Monday with possessing child sex abuse material.
Kevin Austin Thompson, 28, is charged in 4th District Court with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began Nov. 7 when Lehi police received a tip of possible child sex abuse material being uploaded.
“Officers obtained the home address and name of the person attached to the uploaded information after executing a search warrant,” according to charging documents. “(Thompson) currently works in Eagle Mountain as a local school district bus attendant for special needs children.”
The court documents do not indicate which school he works at.
Police questioned Thompson, who said he has viewed child sex abuse material for the past two to three years and “admitted to having a problem that he did not know how to solve,” the charges state. He said he sought out child sex abuse material of mainly young girls and would download the images. But “his e-mail was shut down so he was expecting a visit from law enforcement.”
Detectives say additional electronic devices were seized and will be searched. Those results were pending as of Monday.
Just last week, a school bus driver in the Canyons School District was arrested and accused of possessing child sex abuse material. Val Whitehead, 69, was booked into jail Dec. 11 for investigation of sexual exploitation of a minor after investigators reported locating “several encrypted videos suspected to contain child pornography” on his laptop, including “videos of bus drivers having sexual relations with children,” according to court documents.
