SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man was charged Wednesday with sexually exploiting children after investigators discovered what they called some of the worst child sex abuse material they've ever seen.
Christopher Munds, 42, is charged in 3rd District Court with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began on Dec. 10, 2024 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified the Utah's Internet Crimes Against Children task force that someone was emailing child sex abuse material to himself.
On Jan. 28, investigators went to Munds' apartment to talk to him.
Munds told investigators that he: was "visually impaired"; looked at child sex abuse material on his phone "by holding the phone close to his eyes"; had a new phone number and his old email was shut down; and that he viewed child sex abuse material a "couple of times" to satisfy his curiosity but it was "not for (him)," according to charging documents.
When investigators searched his phone, however, they found hundreds of images of child sex abuse material, including a picture from what is known as the Matt Estes series, the charges allege.
"Matt Estes is a convicted child rapist in the state of Tennessee. Estes was convicted of raping a 16-month-old male child and producing a video of the sexual abuse on the dark web. This child sex abuse material is one of the worst files … that the special agent has been exposed to," according to the charges.
Investigators say Estes "is idolized by pedophiles. This series of material continues to be sought after and distributed on the internet in pedophile circles."
In addition to the Estes picture, agents also found "many files depicting very young children being sexually abused" on Munds' phone, the charges say.
