ST. GEORGE — A man who was previously charged with more than 25 felony counts in a state case has been indicted in federal court for allegedly possessing sexually explicit images of children.
Jaycee Lyndon Stewart, 31, of St. George, was indicted Tuesday in U.S. District Court on one count of possession of child pornography. Federal prosecutors allege he “did knowingly possess and access with intent to view any material which contains an image of child pornography, involving a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.”
According to the indictment, the defendant was reportedly found in possession of the illicit files April 12. He was ordered to forfeit several items, including two cell phones and a tablet, several USB storage devices and SD cards, numerous DVDs and photographs, along with a card reader and three Xbox consoles.
The federal case was filed in connection with an investigation conducted by the St. George Police Department in April that led to 25 charges filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office.
The charges included two first-degree felony counts of rape of a child and 20 second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, as well as three third-degree felony charges — two counts of dealing harmful materials to a minor and one count of tampering with a witness.
It was during this investigation that detectives in St. George searched Stewart’s residence and recovered the items included in this week’s indictment.
Investigators working with an affiliate from the Internet Crimes Against Children recovered “hundreds of images” depicting the sexual abuse of children.
Additionally, detectives discovered that Stewart was a registered sex offender. When the suspect was interviewed by police, he denied all allegations. He was arrested and booked into jail later that evening, and the 25 charges were filed in 5th District Court in St. George the following day.
The order to register as a sex offender was put in place as part of Stewart’s sentence in a 2014 case filed in connection with an incident reported in LaVerkin that started out as a domestic disturbance call.
While LaVerkin Police officers were at that call Feb. 25, 2014, they spoke to one of the parties who said they had “stumbled upon” photos of young girls naked on the suspect’s cell phone, according to the report filed at the time of the arrest.
Stewart reportedly told police the images on his phone were his, adding the pictures were “mainly of half-naked children.” This was consistent with the images recovered by officers during a review of the phone, which the officer noted were sexually explicit photos of children as young as 8 or 9 years old.
Following the interview, Stewart was arrested and booked into jail on misdemeanor assault, DUI and criminal mischief in connection with the domestic disturbance, along with second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor for what was reportedly found on his cell phone.
The following year, Stewart pleaded guilty to assault-domestic violence and DUI, as well as the sexual exploitation charge, while the remaining charges were dismissed during a sentencing hearing June 22, 2015. The sentence of 1-15 years in Utah State Prison was suspended in the case, as were the sentences on the misdemeanor charges.
Instead, Stewart was ordered to serve 320 days in the Washington County jail and was placed on 36 months’ probation.
He was ordered to undergo and complete all sex offender treatment and to abide by all Group A sex offender restrictions, including that he register as a sex offender. Less than six months into his jail sentence, the defendant requested a review hearing for an early release. His request was denied by District Judge Eric A. Ludlow in October 2015.
Stewart eventually was released and his probation was successfully terminated in January 2018. Seven months later, he was arrested for a third-degree felony count of failing to register as a sex offender, according to court records filed in July 2018.
The following year, Stewart entered into a plea in abeyance agreement. If the defendant met all of the requirements of the agreement, such as breaking no laws, the charge would be dismissed at the end of January 2022.
Stewart has remained in jail in Washington County on the state charges since his arrest April 12, and a review hearing has been scheduled in that case for Oct. 3 at 5th District Court in St. George.
On Thursday, the defendant made an initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler on the federal case and he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
During the proceeding, Robb Hunt, a federal public defender, was appointed to represent the defendant and the case is slated for a three-day trial starting Nov. 20 in St. George. The judge also ordered that Stewart remain in custody on a federal hold.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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