Junior high teacher arrested for allegedly downloading child sex abuse material

LINDON — A junior high school teacher in Utah County is accused of using his school email to download child sex abuse material.

Travis Adamson, 50, of Provo, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday for investigation of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Adamson is an art teacher at Oak Canyon Junior High in Lindon. Investigators were first notified of suspected child sex abuse material being downloaded by Adobe who passed on the information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who in turn contacted the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

Adamson was identified by, in part, because he allegedly used his Alpine School District email to download the material, a police booking affidavit states.

When questioned on Monday at the school by police, “Travis did admit that he had been viewing child sex abuse material over the last five-six years. He stated that he stumbled across it when searching for pornography using search terms like ‘teen girls’ or ‘naked girls.’ Travis stated that he downloaded several thousand images and videos which are stored on his hard drive at home,” according to the affidavit.

Adamson denied ever doing anything inappropriate to any of his students or children in his school, the affidavit states.

Alpine School District issued a statement on the matter Tuesday:

A teacher at Oak Canyon Junior High School was arrested on January 6. He has been placed on administrative leave.

District policies and state laws guide the district on how to proceed. We are in communication with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office as they conduct their investigation.

All district employees undergo a criminal background check prior to beginning employment.

We appreciate the professionalism of our law enforcement partners.

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This is a developing story. It may be updated. 

Read more from Pat Reavy on ksl.com.