UTAH COUNTY, Utah — A Utah County man is now facing 43 charges of sexual exploitation of a minor following detectives with the Utah County Sheriff's Office uncovering hundreds of messages sharing and requesting child sexual abuse material. Donald Wayne Shepherd, 36, was arrested back in December.
Court documents obtained by FOX 13 News reveal that on December 3, 2024, police in Utah County acquired a warrant to search through Shepherd's Discord account. Discord is an application used to communicate through text, voice, and video.
When Shepherd's Discord account was provided to police by the company, investigators say that they found records of Shepherd having conversations with children, or people he presumed were children.
During these alleged conversations, police say Shepherd attempted to buy child sexual abuse material. According to police, Shepherd asked multiple accounts to send him "previews" of the material before he would agree to pay for them.
While searching the suspect's phone, police say they located the app Teleguard on the device. The app allegedly contained messages between Shepherd and others sharing and viewing child sexual abuse material. Investigators say that Shepherd had multiple media files on the app showing underage individuals in sexual scenarios.
Charges were filed against Donald Wayne Shepherd on February 21, 2025.
