Sex offender in Vernal arrested and charged for allegedly distributing CSAM

VERNAL, Utah (ABC4) — A Vernal man has been arrested and charged with allegedly distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) using the social media site Kik.

Russell Eugene Drake, 41, has been charged with 26 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony, for distributing CSAM. He was previously convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor in 2024 and ordered to register as a sex offender at that time.

On March 14, 2025, a tip was sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) from a company that manages several social media apps, including Kik. The tip said that a user had uploaded files containing CSAM to their account.

NCMEC forwarded this tip to the Vernal Police Department after information from the tip connected the IP addresses to Vernal, documents say. More tips involving the same account names and IP addresses were sent to the Vernal Police Department on April 2 and 15.

While an officer with Vernal Police was reviewing the information, he recognized some of it as belonging to a previously convicted offender living in Vernal, Russell Drake. The email associated with the Kik account matched a longtime email belonging to the man, and the account names were similar to those used in a previous CSAM case.

Chat logs collected from the Kik revealed that the user identified themself as a divorced 41-year-old male from Utah, matching with Drake. In these chat logs, Drake also allegedly mentions more life details that match information that officers were aware of, such as family relations.

According to documents, Drake is currently on probation with Adult Probation and Parole (AP&P). The investigating officer with the Vernal Police Department spoke with Drake’s supervising agent, who confirmed that Drake’s cell phone has been searched multiple times and that his internet access is controlled by a family member.

This led officers to believe that Drake had a secret device he was using to access social media and download CSAM. A search warrant was granted for Drake’s person, vehicles, and residence.

On June 25, Drake had a meeting with his AP&P agent. The Vernal Police officer attended this meeting to ask Drake questions about the CSAM images shared on social media. Drake allegedly confessed to the officer that he possessed a second cell phone that he kept in his truck.

During the interview, other officers were serving the search warrant on Drake’s residence, where they located “multiple electronic devices and digital storage devices,” according to documents. Reportedly, 26 files of CSAM were distributed by Drake.

Drake was arrested and booked into the Uintah County Jail, where he is currently being held without bail.