By Tracie Sullivan, For Iron County Today
A Cedar City man has been sentenced to serve up to 15 years in the Utah State Prison after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor — both second-degree felonies.
Wesley Derek Dean, 40, was sentenced Tuesday in 5th District Court to serve up to 15 years in prison.
The investigation was launched in March after Synchronoss Technologies had submitted 53 cyber tips through the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) system in October, 2024. One tip, which included 27 files of suspected “sensitive child abuse material, listed Dean by name and linked him to a phone number and online account. The tip also included a possible home address in Cedar City.
Cedar City Police obtained a warrant for the information located on Synchronoss Technologies’ servers. There, they discovered a folder labeled “2024-11-22” that contained both personal images of Dean and multiple files of children as young as five-years-old.
The affidavit noted that Dean had uploaded the material and had access to at least six children at the time of the investigation. It was not known whether any of them were victims.
Dean was arrested on March 17 and invoked his Miranda rights, declining to answer questions about the investigation. He did acknowledge having suicidal thoughts, according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors originally charged Dean with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, all second-degree felonies. Eight of those were dismissed with prejudice under the terms of a plea agreement.
At sentencing, prosecutors emphasized the serious nature of the crimes and urged the court to impose a strong and meaningful sentence.
“Material like the ones possessed by the defendant fuel a market for vile and deeply harmful images and videos that exploit and traumatize children,” said Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson.
“While many of the children depicted in this material may remain unidentified, they are real victims — real children who were abused, exploited, and recorded.
We may not know their names, but we care about them. Every image represents a child whose innocence was stolen, and we have a duty to stand up for them.”
Dotson also praised the Cedar City Police Department for its “excellent work,” along with the digital forensic teams that assisted in the case. Deputy County Attorney Trajan Evans led the prosecution for the state.