Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- A judge and fire chief from Box Elder County both face charges of child sexual exploitation involving disturbing internet chats.
- Both men were in a relationship and engaged in graphic conversations about abusing children, court documents allege.
- Investigators say the judge was also assigned to the fire chief's criminal case and released him on bail in January.
TREMONTON — A Utah judge was charged Monday with sexually exploiting children and a Utah fire chief was charged Tuesday with similar crimes.
Now court documents say both men engaged in very disturbing conversations with each other about sexually abusing children and the two were also involved in a sexual relationship.
In addition, investigators say the judge was assigned to the fire chief's criminal case and released him on bail in January despite a request that he be held without bail.
Tremonton Fire Chief Ned Brady Hansen, 54, was charged Tuesday in 1st District Court with eight counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony. Hansen's charges were filed a day after 1st District Justice Court Judge Kevin Robert Christensen, 64, was charged with seven felony sex crimes involving children and obstructing justice.
The charges against Hansen allege he distributed an explicit video of a 10-year-old girl on at least six occasions and shared an explicit photograph of two 12-year-old girls on at least two other occasions. Christensen is accused of sexually enticing minors via a chat app multiple times.
Hansen was booked into the Box Elder County Jail on Jan. 27 after Brigham City police executed a search warrant at his home. Several devices were seized by police for processing at the time.
When Hansen was initially arrested, investigators asked a judge — Christensen — to keep Hansen in custody without the possibility of posting bail.
"Law enforcement requested the defendant, Hansen, be held without bail due to the risk he posed to children in the community and were unaware of the sexual relationship between (Hansen) and Christensen," according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant filed in 1st District Court.
"Christensen did not disclose that he had engaged in sexually charged chats regarding children with defendant Hansen, and law enforcement believes that this fact materially affected the decision-making of Christensen at the time he released Hansen," the affidavit states.
The investigation into Hansen's alleged crimes began in November 2024 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received information that "a certain internet-based application had engaged in the distribution of child sex abuse material." Law enforcement was then able to connect the account to Hansen, charging documents state.
After detectives discovered explicit videos of a preteen girl, Hansen "admitted to having possessed the videos identified ... and being the account subscriber," an arrest report alleges.
While looking through evidence, police later discovered that Hansen "had an extensive number of chats" with Christensen "that were graphically sexual and involved discussion of sexually abusing children," according to the arrest affidavit.
In those chats with Christensen, Hansen "expressed interest" in sexually abusing children he knew and offered to "share" them and allow Christensen to sexually abuse them, the affidavit alleges, adding that Christensen "discussed showing (Hansen) pictures of" children he knew and offered to share.
Hansen also "discussed having met with this internet user (Christensen) in real life to engage in sexual acts with this other user," according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Christensen was charged Monday with two counts of enticing a minor using the internet, one second-degree felony and one third-degree felony; plus two counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor, three counts of attempted aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and obstruction of justice, third-degree felonies.
The judge, who has been placed on unpaid leave, is accused of using a chatting application "to communicate with others about sexually abusing children, sexually exploiting children and enticing children," according to charging documents.
Christensen discussed many personal details about himself and sent multiple photos of him and his family members to other people in those chats, including explicit photos of himself, the charges state. Court documents describe graphic sexual conversations with teen girls.
Investigators say Hansen also discussed sexual abuse of children in several internet chats they discovered. Hansen said he enjoys child sexual abuse material but tries "to stay out of trouble," charging documents state. "In another chat, the defendant (Hansen) states that he 'totally would' molest a child 'if (he) could get away with it.'"
In an interview with police, Hansen said "he had a pornography addiction and that over the previous several years he had developed tastes for younger females," according to the charging documents.
Hansen started his career in South Ogden and took a position as assistant fire chief in Logan in 2000, according to the Logan website. Hansen was the Jackson Hole Fire/EMS chief from 2017 to September 2022, when he retired and moved back to Logan, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported.
The fire chief was hired by Tremonton in August 2023. Tremonton City Manager Bill Cobabe confirmed that Hansen was fired Monday after city officials heard of his arrest.
