"I guess if there was some attempt to use morphed images to avoid prosecution, it would be a problem down the road, but there seems to be such an inexhaustible supply of actual children," said assistant attorney general Craig Barlow. He said he hasn't seen a Utah market for such digitally enhanced images.

"Maybe I don't know enough about the mentality of people who like to look at this stuff, but would artificial images be as satisfying or arousing to them as the real thing?" Barlow asked.

But Montgomery said she's seen too many cases where "a picture just isn't enough after so long" and consumers of child pornography turn to predatory behavior.

"There's no reason to have that stuff, whether it's real or fake," she said.

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Previous story: Internet fuels alarming growth of child pornography cases in Utah.

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