St. George man now facing 39 felony charges for allegedly possessing and uploading CSAM

HURRICANE, Utah (ABC4) — A St. George man, who previously pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual activity with a minor, has been charged with possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Ricardo Robert Riggs, 28, was charged with 20 second-degree felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor on Aug. 14, 2025. Last month, on July 25, he was charged with 19 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, facing 39 counts across two cases.

According to court documents, in July 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip that a user was uploading CSAM to their account. This tip was passed to the Utah County Attorney General’s Office, along with a second tip that was also connected to the case.

An officer with the Hurricane City Police Department investigated the tips and eventually connected them to Riggs through filing search warrants and months of work. The officer was able to track down Riggs’ home address and created a search warrant for his residence.

On July 23, 2025, Hurricane officers served the search warrant and took Riggs into custody. He was booked into the Washington County Jail for the 19 files of CSAM that were uploaded to his Kik account. Riggs allegedly denied knowing anything about the files, and his electronic devices were seized.

Two days later, on July 25, Riggs was charged with 19 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for the files that were uploaded on Kik. While being held in jail, Riggs reportedly refused to attend his initial appearance, and it had to be rescheduled. A copy of a plea offer was delivered to him in jail, and he has a resolution hearing scheduled for Aug. 19.

On Aug. 12, the Hurricane officer completed a search warrant to download information from the two phones taken from Riggs during his arrest. On the phones, the officer located 40 files of CSAM, including videos and photos.

Riggs was rebooked into the Washington County Jail for the files of CSAM located on his personal devices. Today, Aug. 14, he was charged with 20 additional felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Previously, in 2022, Riggs pleaded guilty to having unlawful sexual activity with a minor in 2015. Documents say he had sexually abused a 14-year-old after serving her alcohol, and the severity of the charges was lowered to Class B misdemeanors through his plea deal.

In 2023, Riggs exposed himself to another inmate at the Washington County Jail while serving jail time for his 2022 offense. He was initially charged with a third-degree felony count of lewdness, but the severity was lowered to a Class B misdemeanor through a plea agreement.

Currently, Riggs is being held without bail at the Washington County Jail for his two current cases involving possession of CSAM.