Two men were arrested on Tuesday after allegedly scattering pornographic cards around a Utah college campus, ABC 4 reported.
Paxten Prentice and Jamie Anderson, both 19, allegedly distributed the cards “all over the common areas and restrooms” in a building at Utah Tech University, according to ABC 4. (RELATED: ‘Our Kids Are Being Threatened:’ California School District Gives Students Access To Books With Pornographic Content)
What was meant as a joke led to two arrests at Utah Tech after two friends allegedly distributed pornographic cards around campus.https://t.co/ZdVdWOQ6KO
— ABC4 News (@abc4utah) April 27, 2023
A librarian contacted university police after she and other employees gathered the cards from around a building. She handed the obscene cards to the police, who described them as the type that are passed out “on the Las Vegas strip,” ABC 4 reported.
When police found Prentice in his apartment, he allegedly said that he and Anderson passed out the graphic cards “as a joke,” the outlet noted. Both were arrested and booked into the Washington County jail with a charge of distributing an “intimate image,” according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
With the exception of pornographic content portraying a minor, the possession of pornography is not illegal in Utah, according to Utah state law. However, a person who knowingly “distributes or offers to distribute, or exhibits or offers to exhibit, any pornographic material to others” can be punished with a minimum fine of $1,000 or more and incarceration for a term of 30 days or more.
Utah elected officials have been known to publicly speak out against pornography. Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declared pornography a public health crisis in 2016, and current Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation requiring devices to be sold with a pornography filter.