Man charged with downloading child pornography on Snapchat
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IDAHO FALLS — A 22-year-old man has been charged after officers reportedly discovered child pornography on his cell phone.
Seth Masao Tanaka was charged with five counts of felony willfully possessing child sexually exploitative material.
According to court documents, an Idaho Falls Police detective was sent a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC0), stating that Snapchat had reported multiple files containing child sexual abuse material coming from an account in Idaho Falls. The account was later determined to be Tanaka’s.
The files reportedly depicted children as young as ten years old, nude and in sexual situations.
A search warrant was served at Tanaka’s home, and he was detained and transported to the Idaho Falls Police Department, where he was interviewed.
During the interview, Tanaka reportedly admitted the Snapchat account was his and that it had been shut down because he had been using it to look at child pornography.
He also allegedly told detectives he enjoys looking at child pornography and “prefers female children 10 to 12 years old,” according to the police report.
Tanaka then admitted that he had “been in forums and on sites on the internet that contained (child pornography) of all ages of children from newborns to teenagers.”
According to Tanaka, he had been viewing this kind of content for “a few years” and estimated that child pornography makes up “about 10 percent” of the pornography that he looks at.
He then told detectives he had a folder on his phone that contained child pornography. His phone was later located at his home, and the folder was found by detectives, containing multiple photos of nude minors between the approximate ages of 11 and 14.
Police say several other devices were seized at Tanaka’s home.
Tanaka was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on a bond of $100,000.
He is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 4. If convicted, he could face up to 50 years in prison.
Though Tanaka has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.