Five men were arrested Wednesday for collecting and distributing child pornography over the Internet.
Five men were arrested Wednesday for collecting and distributing child pornography over the Internet. The arrests were the culmination of a month long sting operation that involved the SCPD, the DA’s Office and the San Jose Internet Crimes Against Children, a group created by the U.S. Justice Department to combat an uptick in child pornography on the Internet.
The men were identified as Robert Paris, 54, who is disabled; Keegan Knutson, 26, a student; Eryk McGill, 21, a server; and Kyle Unger, 19, a cashier. The fifth suspect is a minor, so his name was not released. Paris and the minor are both from Santa Cruz, McGill is from Aptos, and Unger is from Boulder Creek. Knutson is from Monterey. They were all released from prison on $5,000 bail.
Police Spokesman Zach Friend says there was no evidence that the group was selling the photos and videos they had amassed, but were instead distributing them via file-sharing software. Officer Dave Pawlak, who first obtained images from the men, said that there were many thousands of images collected, including children as young as two years old. He added that “the total quantity, and graphic nature, were chilling.”
Police are now investigating whether the men had any contact with the children. The images are being sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which will attempt to identify the victims and the photographers. Read more at KSBW and Santa Cruz Sentinel.
