Eagle Mountain man arrested for CSAM, said he fantasized about kidnapping children: Sheriff’s Office

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah (ABC4) — The Utah County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man living in Eagle Mountain after a months-long investigation. The sheriff’s office said that they had received tips that he was downloading child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Kevin William Golding, 26, is facing potential charges of 13 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony, and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

According to the arrest document, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received nine CyberTips from different social media apps between January and November 2024 that an individual had been accessing CSAM online. This information was provided to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office (UCSO) based on the IP address of the user, and they began their investigation three months ago.

Investigators with the UCSO submitted a search warrant to the internet service provider and obtained the Eagle Mountain residential address associated with the IP address. The UCSO performed surveillance at the residence, and found that Golding was living there.

On July 29, a search warrant was served on Golding’s residence, law enforcement detained Golding during a traffic stop and seized his phone. Golding provided UCSO investigators access to the residence so they could serve the warrant.

One of the UCSO deputies explained Golding’s rights and asked if he knew why law enforcement was at his house. Golding allegedly responded that it was because he was being investigated for CSAM. When prompted, he stated that he had viewed CSAM and was in an online chat room where the illegal files were traded, but denied accessing anything before two weeks ago.

The UCSO investigator explained that they had received tips about CSAM from the same address more than a year ago, and Golding allegedly admitted that he had been accessing CSAM. When asked if he had offended against any children in real life, Golding denied doing anything but said he had thought about it.

According to court documents, Golding told law enforcement that he had fantasized about kidnapping children. He stated he would sometimes “people watch” while driving through the community and “think about how easy it would be to kidnap a child.” In group chats recovered from his phone, he had expressed this interest to other users.

After reviewing Golding’s phone, officers allegedly located multiple files of CSAM, as well as chats where the man exchanged CSAM files with other users on social media.

Golding was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail, where he is currently being held without bail. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office says they had turned over their investigation to the Utah County Attorney to screen for charges.