PANGUITCH — A man who works at an elementary school in southern Utah has been arrested and accused of taking photos of young students without their knowledge and creating and uploading child sex abuse material.
Dallen Benjamin Platt, 20, was booked into the Garfield County Jail on Thursday for investigation of five counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, sodomy on a child, sexual abuse of a child, and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The investigation began Tuesday 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, a search warrant was issued, and Platt admitted to manufacturing child sex abuse material and claimed he sent it to a 13-year-old girl in Texas, according to a police booking affidavit.
Investigators searched Platt's cellphone and found "dozens of images of children taken at his employment at a local elementary school. Platt stated these photos were taken without the children's knowledge," the affidavit states. "He then used AI to manipulate the images, making the children naked."
The arrest report does not specify which school or what he does at the school.
Platt allegedly told investigators, "he is in a relationship with a 13-year-old girl and knows where she lives."
Platt is also accused of sexually abusing two toddlers. The victims did not attend the elementary school where he works, police said.
Platt "admitted he needs immediate help for sexual deviancies," the affidavit states.
