Elementary school employee charged with sex abuse of children, filming students

Originally Published: 21 MAY 26 15:20 ET

By Pat Reavy

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    PANGUITCH, Utah (KSL) -- A Garfield County man who police say works at an elementary school and was arrested and accused of uploading child sex abuse material was charged Wednesday with 22 first-degree felonies.

Dallen Benjamin Platt, 20, of Henrieville, is charged in 6th District Court with three counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, 18 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and sodomy on a child, all first-degree felonies.

The investigation began a week ago when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children task force that suspected child sex abuse material was being uploaded to an IP address in Utah. On Thursday, investigators served a search warrant at Platt's residence.

Platt admitted to sexually abusing two young children under the age of 5 and secretly recording two teens naked, according to charging documents. He claimed he would then send his videos to a 13-year-old girl in Texas. Platt allegedly told investigators he is in a "relationship" with the 13-year-old.

"Platt stated that he works at a local elementary school. He admitted to taking photos of children at the school and sending the photos to (the 13-year-old) to rate their attractiveness. He also admitted to using AI to manufacture nude images of the children," charging documents state. "Law enforcement is conducting additional investigation into these files."

Neither the charging documents nor the arrest report indicate which school Platt works at or what he does there. The crimes Platt was charged with on Wednesday happened at his residence and not the school, the charges say.

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