OGDEN, Utah -- He was in a position of trust as a former junior high teacher and Boy Scout leader, but now 61-year-old Kenneth Prince has been arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography.
Prince spent almost 30 years teaching at South Ogden Junior High until his retirement in 2008.
Two weeks ago, a man came forward alleging Prince sexually abused him when the victim was a teen. It's unclear if he was a student or a scout.
"The original incident happened in the ‘80s, I would suspect it's been going on since then," said South Ogden Police Department Chief Darin Parke.
That tip led police to the former science teacher's home in Uintah last week. Cops served a search warrant, and they said they seized several computers with explicit images of males ages 13 to 17.
"The preliminary analysis showed 5 photos the prosecutor felt was sufficient to file charges," Parke said.
Parke said the victims are all different males, and it's obvious they were aware the photos were being taken. However, it's unclear who took them and whether the suspect downloaded them from the internet.
"At this point we haven't identified who the people are in the photos, but we are considering it child pornography,” he said.
South Ogden resident and mother Tegan Greenfield said she had issues with Prince several years ago.
"There was an incident in 2007 that I tried to bring charges against him," she said.
Greenfield said when her daughter was 13, she attended a party at an Ogden motel. Sisiline Richards said there were several junior high students at the party, and drugs and alcohol were available. Richards said Mr. Prince was there.
"He was sitting in a circle,” Richards said. “They were smoking and drinking.”
She said she didn't see any signs of sexual abuse, but Ogden Police said Prince admitted being there. Police officials said they investigated him for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but prosecutors declined to file charges in that incident.
However, South Ogden police believe others have been sexually abused and investigators want those victims to come forward.
"For me, I'm glad somebody is doing something because to me I feel like he's been doing this forever and he's always slipped under the radar," Greenfield said.
Salt Lake police had a case with Prince but couldn't offer specific details. They said it was in 2008, the same year Prince retired from teaching.
Investigators also said Prince went to rave dance parties where teens frequented.
It's unclear if students or scouts were victims. Scout Executive Allen Endicott said in a statement, “Mr. Prince has not been a registered leader with the Trapper Trails Council since 2003. As soon as we were made aware of the situation with Mr. Prince by law enforcement, immediate steps were taken to remove his ability to ever again register with the Boy Scouts of America.”
Prince has bailed out of Weber County Jail, and a family member filed a protective order against him.
FOX 13 tried reaching him at his home to get his side of the story. No one answered the door. Meanwhile, the Weber County Attorney said charges could be filed Thursday.
