Ex-Tremonton fire chief pleads not guilty in sex abuse case

WEBER COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — Ned Brady Hansen, the former fire chief of Tremonton City, has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to sex crimes after a case was brought forth linking Hansen and a Box Elder County judge to child sexual exploitation.

Hansen, 54, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor — charges brought against him in March 2025. In July, he was also charged with aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, after a 10-year-old victim came forth about her abuse. A preliminary hearing scheduled for today, Aug. 25, has been waived and will likely take place in the next six weeks.

Hansen is accused of discussing and exchanging graphic sexual images of children. He and former Box Elder County Judge Kevin Christensen were allegedly found to be connected in these discussions, exchanging child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and even mentioning abuse of children in their real lives.

According to court documents, following Hansen’s arrest in January, a female child under the age of 10, “over whom [Hansen] occupied a position of special trust,” told her parents that she believed that he had sexually abused her.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) performed an interview with the child victim. She told law enforcement that Hansen had sexually abused her on multiple occasions.

In the review of alleged messages sent by Hansen, which were also exchanged with other adult users, FBI investigators discovered that he had discussed his engagement in “the sexual abuse of underage children in the past,” and described his abuse of this child victim.

The ways in which he described the sexual abuse of the underage child reportedly matched up with the account that she shared during the interview. Hansen also explained that he purposefully took care to “ensure that his sexual abuse can be justified as otherwise normal behavior,” describing the actions he took as “very careful.”

Christensen resigned from his position as a judge in March amid the allegations. Christensen allegedly had graphic sexual conversations with underage girls as young as 13 years old. These chat threads allegedly included exchanging sexually explicit videos and pictures.

Christensen was charged with nine felonies, including two counts of enticing a minor, two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor, three counts of attempted aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and obstruction of justice. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in July.