Jerome man arrested for sexual exploitation of a child

JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — A Jerome man is facing 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

Court records reveal Jerome Police executed a search warrant Wednesday at the home of Jedediah Mortenson, 36.

They collected one cell phone, a manila envelope labeled “woman sketches”, which featured drawings of young girls, drug paraphernalia and a ram for a Play Station.

Jerome Police became aware of the case due to a cybertip from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office.

The files were discovered in a Synchronoss Technology Inc. cloud service, or the cloud service through Verizon Wireless.

Following the tip, a Jerome investigator executed a search warrant for Synchronoss, which produced 46 images. Ten of the images contained obvious child exploitative material, according to records and those represent the initial charges facing Mortenson.

When questioned, Mortenson told investigators he searched for teen images online and downloaded them. When it came to young female images, he told police he downloaded them as models for “future art projects”.

He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on August 18.

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