Visalia man arrested on child molestation charges

VISALIA – A Visalia man has been arrested on numerous charges including sexual acts with a child and possession of child pornography.

The Central California Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force arrested 27-year-old Thomas Eberle this week after an investigation revealed he had been abusing young girls.

The investigation began last week when the task force, which is made up of deputies and officers from several agencies in the Central Valley, received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip indicated that Eberle had uploaded multiple child pornography images between different personal accounts.

On March 13, detectives with the task force served a warrant at Eberle’s residence, located in the 1000 block of South Bradley Street in Visalia. Detectives located his personal computer and discovered more than 150 images of child pornography.

Further into the investigation, detectives learned that Eberle had sexually abused and molested three female juveniles between the ages of 8 and 14. All the victims are from Visalia.

According to the sheriff’s department, Eberle began abusing one of the victims when she was 8 years old and continued until she was 11. The second victim was 10 years old at the time of abuse. The third victim was abused between the ages of 13 and 14.

“We purposely did not release whether or not Eberle knew any of the victims,” sheriff’s spokesperson Chris Curtice said.

He also said that he did not have information on exactly where the abuse took place.

Eberle was transferred to the Tulare County Jail and faces charges of lewd and lascivious acts with a child, sodomy, oral copulation, continuous sexual acts with a child, and possession of child pornography.

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