ST. GEORGE — A St. George man on probation for a child sex offense was allegedly found with photos of children in sexual positions on his phone, which he claims to have taken while at a nudist camp.
Joel Stephen Sherrill, 67, appeared in 5th District Court in St. George Friday on six second-degree felony charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, which were filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office Wednesday.
The charges stem from an investigation that began July 2 when agents with Adult Probation and Parole went to a motel on St. George Boulevard to conduct a home visit to determine if the defendant was using alcohol, a violation of his probation from a 2017 case in which he was convicted of second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor.
When officers spoke with Sherrill, they determined he was under the influence of alcohol, and he was placed under arrest.
During the arrest, officers retrieved several personal items at the defendant’s request, including a walker in the parking lot.
While collecting the walker, the agent noticed a compartment under the seat, inside which was allegedly found a smart phone with a security lock.
After unlocking the phone, the officer noted in the arrest statement that there “were females on the home screen that seemed to be very young and dressed provocatively.” In the phone’s photo gallery, police say there was a photo of a “very young female” in a sexual position.
At that point, the officer obtained a warrant and then submitted both the cell phone and the defendant’s laptop computer to a digital forensics lab for analysis, while Sherrill remained in custody at Purgatory Correctional Facility.
The forensic cell phone analysis revealed there were “many images” depicting sexual activity and pornography, according to the arrest statement. During the analysis of the laptop computer, forensic investigators allegedly found “approximately 53 images of children in varying states of undress, nude, and in sexual positions.”
During an interview at the jail, investigators say Sherrill admitted that he knew about the photos of nude children and admitted to putting the images on his cell phone.
“He stated that the images were from a nudist camp and that he was aware that some of the images were children,” the officer noted in the statement.
Previous conviction
Less than two years ago, Sherrill pleaded guilty to one second-degree felony count of sexual exploitation of a minor, while two counts of the same charge were dropped under the terms of a plea agreement.
The conviction stems from an investigation that was initiated in June 2014 after a friend of the defendant walked into the St. George Police Department to report that he found images of child pornography on Sherrill’s laptop and other electronic devices.
Through the course of the investigation, authorities found several files that contained images of “very young girls under the age of 18,” including photos depicting naked children between the ages of 4 and 10, according to the probable cause statement file in support of his arrest. Officers said three of the photos were sexually explicit and were categorized as child pornography.
The defendant was a registered sex offender at the time, so the laptop was submitted into evidence. At the time of his arrest, he denied having any child pornography but told police he “sometimes likes to imagine what it is like to be a pedophile, and what they feel like.”
On Dec. 22, 2017, the defendant was sentenced to serve 320 days in jail, in addition to 36-months probation and a $43 fine. He was also ordered to adhere to all requirements and restrictions for a Class A sex offender and was prohibited from accessing the internet during the term of probation. Sherrill is currently on both the Utah sex offender registry and the registry maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The defendant was released Aug. 14, 2018, after serving approximately eight and a half months in jail.
In June, Adult Probation and Parole filed a violation report after Sherrill allegedly failed to complete sex-offender treatment, and he was subsequently arrested during the July 2 home visit in which agents found him drinking alcohol in violation of his parole.
Sherrill has remained in custody since his arrest for the probation violation on $25,000 bail.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.