A truck driver is facing multiple felony charges after a crash allegedly led to the discovery of exploitative images on his cellphone.
The crash occurred on October 24 on I-70 in Sevier County, Utah.
According to a report from local news outlet Gephardt Daily, Indiana-based truck driver John W. Ellsworth, 60, rolled his truck after hitting a rock while traveling on I-70 near mile marker 70.
“While on the scene the driver [Ellsworth] seemed difficult and unsettled. He refused to sit inside my patrol car with the heater and did not want to sit down despite stating that he was injured and had pain in his leg,” according to the charging document.
Police said that Ellsworth tried to look for his phone, and then asked an officer to look for his phone. The deputy was unable to locate the phone.
After Ellsworth was taken to the hospital for treatment, a tow truck driver helping to recover the crashed truck found the lost phone covered in oil. After wiping it off, the town truck driver turned it on to see if it would work.
After pushing the power button, tow truck driver said that the phone opened to a gallery of graphic images.
The tow truck driver the handed the phone over to police.
From the affidavit: “The phone was open to the gallery and a large amount of small pictures were displayed on the screen. All of these pictures appeared to be pornography and some contained nude children with adults performing sexual acts to them.”
Ellsworth was arrested at the hospital following the discovery of the images on his phone. He faces three second degree felony charges of alleged sexual exploitation of a minor.
The incident remains under investigation.