Salt Lake man pleads guilty to possessing more than 200 explicits photos of children

SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man previously convicted of attempting to entice a minor has pleaded guilty to possessing more than 200 explicit images of children.

Agents from the FBI and the Child Exploitation and Human Task Force served a search warrant on Brennan Christopher Bennett's apartment on Oct. 28, 2025.

"During the execution of that search warrant, it was discovered that the subject, Brennan Christopher Bennett, had four firearms which were located in his residence and his vehicle," according to court documents. "He admitted that he had acquired the firearms opportunistically for the purpose of his protection."

Because Bennett, 42, was convicted in 2021 of two felony counts of attempted enticement of a minor, he is restricted from possessing firearms. In that case, Bennett was arrested after arranging to meet an undercover officer, whom he thought was a 13-year-old girl.

During the investigation of the firearms, agents further discovered that at some point prior to Oct. 28, 2025, Bennett had received sexually explicit images of a child, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Utah.

He was initially indicted in November before a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment on April 29 charging Bennett with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and receipt of child sex abuse material.

On Monday, Bennett pleaded guilty to receipt of child sex abuse material.

"I received and possessed material that contained child pornography. On my Samsung flip phone, I possessed 235 images of child pornography, and seven videos of child pornography," Bennett said in his plea.

According to the plea agreement, he is likely to be sentenced to almost 11 years in prison followed by lifetime probation that includes a mental health evaluation and treatment. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25.