Several Tips Led Police to the Suspect
SANTA CRUZ—Detectives with the Santa Cruz Police Department and the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce have arrested 30-year-old Santa Cruz resident Christopher Lee Schuette after a search of his home revealed thousands of pornographic images of small children.
Agents with the taskforce, which included agents from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, initiated this case after noticing suspicious Internet activity. Using sophisticated software, detectives were able to pin down the source of the activity. Santa Cruz Police, who are the liaison for the Taskforce, obtained a search warrant for the suspect’s house.
During the search, detectives discovered multiple USB drives containing thousands of images depicting child pornography. Many of the images depict toddler-aged children engaged in sexual activity.
“We seized digital evidence as well as printed images from Mr. Schuette’s home.” Santa Cruz Police Deputy Chief Steve Clark wrote,” We are exploring whether or not he was involved in the actual sales of these images.”
Detectives were able to determine that Schuette was uploading the files to the Internet. Police are looking into Schuette’s previous employment history both locally and out of state to determine if he worked in the childcare industry, or had regular contact with children. Police believe he may have been looking for similar employment prior to his arrest.
Mr. Schuette was taken into custody on Monday, January 20 and booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail on possession of child pornography charges. His bail as been set at 5,000.00 dollars.
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KSBW: Santa Cruz man arrested on child porn charge
