EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man who allegedly told police that he drives around neighborhoods and has thoughts about kidnapping children has been arrested and accused of possessing child sex abuse material.

Kevin William Golding, 26, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Tuesday for investigation of 13 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

The investigation began in January 2024 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received multiple tips of child sex abuse material being downloaded.

“The cybertips were from several different social media apps. The information provided also included different names and email addresses. Most of the usernames were similar with some minor different details,” according to a police booking affidavit.

All of the email addresses were eventually traced back to a home in Eagle Mountain. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office launched its own investigation in April.

After three months of investigating, which included surveillance on Golding’s home, detectives served a search warrant at his residence on Tuesday. Deputies detained Golding, who admitted he had recently been viewing child sex abuse material, the affidavit states.

“He explained that he was on an online chatroom in which individuals traded child sex abuse material. Kevin confirmed that he created a persona on these chat groups where he identified himself as a ‘Pedo’ and requested to trade and receive child sex abuse material,” according to the affidavit. “Kevin confirmed that he would view child sex abuse material because it interested him but then would feel disgust for his actions and stop. This went on and off throughout 2024.”

He then told investigators that he had a conversation with an unknown person in a chat room about kidnapping children, according to the affidavit.

“Kevin explained that he has fantasized about taking children so that he could start a family. He explained that he would never act on it because he realized that it was bad. Kevin explained that at times he would fantasize about this while driving through town. He would think about how easy it would be to take the children but then would think about how sad the parents would be. Kevin was adamant that he would never act on these fantasies,” the affidavit alleges. “In his group chats, he has told other individuals that he is interested in kidnapping children.”

Deputies reported finding child sex abuse material on Golding’s phone, and he was arrested at the conclusion of the interview.