A retired Army military intelligence noncommissioned officer was recalled to active duty and court-martialed after admissions made during a National Security Agency polygraph helped unravel years of crimes involving children spanning multiple states and decades.
Sgt. 1st Class Sean A. Loveridge, 54, pleaded guilty Aug. 13 at Fort Meade, Maryland, to three specifications of sexual abuse of a child under Article 120b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
A military judge sentenced him to 36 months in confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. The sentence was consistent with a plea agreement.
Editor’s note: This version of the article omits some graphic details contained in court and police records. The complete, advertising-free version is available at The Salty Soldier Uncensored.
But the Army prosecution was only one piece of a broader series of cases that began after Loveridge made incriminating admissions during a 2025 job and security-clearance process.
Utah court records show that process included a polygraph administered by the National Security Agency. During it, Loveridge admitted sexually abusing several underage girls and viewing child sexual abuse material.
The records do not identify the prospective employer, leaving unclear whether Loveridge was seeking direct employment with the NSA, another government intelligence position, or work with a defense contractor requiring NSA involvement in the clearance process.
What followed was a widening investigation that ultimately produced felony convictions in two Utah counties and a separate Army court-martial.
Admissions led police to multiple victims
After the security-clearance disclosure, Ogden Police interviewed Loveridge on June 11, 2025.
During that interview, Loveridge admitted sexually abusing his two infant daughters and two female children of family friends while living in another state.
He also acknowledged having viewed child sexual abuse material in the past.
Those admissions involved hands-on abuse of at least four children.
The Army later prosecuted Loveridge for abusing three children, ages 12, 5 and 1, while he was on active duty in 2016 and 2020 and living in Glen Burnie, Maryland.
Utah authorities separately prosecuted him for abusing a roughly one-year-old child in Orem in the late 1990s.
The available records do not establish whether every child referenced across the Utah and military cases was a different person, so The Salty Soldier is not assigning a larger total number of unique victims than the records clearly support.
Hard drive search led to seven felony charges
During the Ogden investigation, Loveridge voluntarily provided police with an external hard drive.
Investigators later reported finding hundreds of images of young girls that authorities characterized as sexually exploitative. Loveridge admitted keeping the images because he found them sexually pleasing.
Prosecutors later alleged investigators found thousands of photographs of young girls collected from church events, parks, parties and other settings. Court records state that some of the children depicted were also among those Loveridge had admitted victimizing.
Weber County prosecutors charged Loveridge with seven counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, all second-degree felonies. The charges accused him of knowingly possessing or intentionally viewing child pornography between 2019 and June 2025.
On Oct. 1, 2025, Loveridge pleaded guilty to four of the seven counts. The remaining three were dismissed with prejudice.
The plea agreement called for his release at sentencing, no additional jail time beyond credit for time already served, no prison recommendation, and 48 months of supervised probation.
At sentencing, the judge imposed four separate one-to-15-year prison terms but suspended all four.
Instead, Loveridge received 48 months of supervised probation, sex-offender conditions, internet restrictions, required treatment and evaluations, and 111 days in jail. He received credit for all 111 days already served.
Separate Utah case reached back to 1998
The investigation also led authorities to abuse Loveridge admitted committing decades earlier.
Detectives determined Loveridge had been living in Orem in the late 1990s and began investigating his admission involving a roughly one-year-old child.
The child, now an adult, was interviewed by detectives but said she was too young at the time to remember the incident. Loveridge’s wife confirmed the family had been living in Orem when the abuse occurred.
Loveridge later formally admitted the conduct as part of a guilty plea.
His signed plea statement acknowledged that he sexually abused the approximately one-year-old child while living in Orem and that he occupied a position of special trust over the victim.
He was initially charged with first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
As part of a negotiated plea agreement, prosecutors reduced the offense to a second-degree felony. Loveridge agreed to plead guilty, serve prison time and have the sentence run concurrently with other confinement.
On July 28, 2026, Judge Derek P. Pullan sentenced Loveridge to an indeterminate term of one to 15 years in Utah State Prison.
Unlike the prison terms imposed in the Weber County case, that sentence was not suspended.
Army recalled him from retirement
While Utah authorities pursued their cases, Army investigators were examining abuse Loveridge committed while he was still on active duty.
The Army said Loveridge sexually abused three children, ages 12, 5 and 1, during incidents in 2016 and 2020 while he was living in Glen Burnie, Maryland.
His admissions during the 2025 security-clearance process were reported to Army CID and Utah law enforcement, triggering parallel investigations.
Utah authorities prosecuted Loveridge first.
By the time the Army moved forward with its case, Loveridge was already serving confinement in Utah.
The Army recalled the retired intelligence NCO to active duty and, with assistance from Utah officials and Army CID, transferred him to Maryland for a general court-martial at Fort Meade.
On Aug. 13, 2026, Loveridge pleaded guilty before military judge Adam S. Kazin to three specifications of sexual abuse of a child.
He elected to have the case decided by a military judge rather than a panel.
Kazin sentenced Loveridge to 36 months in confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge.
The military sentence was consistent with the terms of a plea agreement.
After the court-martial, Loveridge was returned to Utah.
The Army said that if his Utah confinement ends before he has served the full three-year military sentence, he will be transferred to Army custody to complete the remaining time.
Loveridge is also required to register as a sex offender.
The case was investigated by Army CID’s Fort Meade Resident Unit, Ogden City Police, Orem Police and other Utah authorities.
Taken together, the records show that admissions made during a 2025 NSA polygraph and security-clearance process exposed conduct reaching back nearly three decades and ultimately led to felony convictions in two Utah courts and a separate Army general court-martial.
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