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Man faces 25 felonies for alleged sex crimes against children, police seek help finding other victims

Posted at 4:16 PM, Sep 11, 2014
and last updated 2014-09-11 21:17:43-04

WEBER COUNTY, Utah – A man has been booked into the Weber County Jail and faces 20 charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and five charges of sexual abuse of a minor.

Formal charges have not yet been filed against Jared Byron Hoopes, 34, but a document indicates he was booked into jail Wednesday, and that documents lists 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor as second-degree felonies and five counts of sexual abuse of a child, which are also second-degree felonies.

The investigation was initiated by the Utah Attorney General Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

According to a statement of probable cause from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, a search warrant was executed at a residence in Morgan County. Police located digital media that contained images and videos of female children being sexually abused.

According to the document, “The female children were positively identified. I was reviewing one of the videos and observed Jared Hoopes sexually abusing a female child. I located several videos depicting Jared Hoopes sexually abusing a female child.”

Jessica Farnsworth, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Commander, said they have identified some of the victims in the videos and images but are still working to identify some of the victims.

“When we started going through the media devices, we noticed and saw images of him sexually abusing children,” she said. “And we’re asking the public’s assistance. If they have any information on this case or if they have any potential victims please contact us on our tip line… We need the public’s help to identify these kids.”

The tip line for ICAC is: 801-281 -1211.

The statement of probable cause indicates more than 20 images and videos of female children being sexually exploited were found during the search.  FOX 13 News will have more information as it becomes available.