Man Traced From Zoom Chat Faces Child Porn Charges

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A 44-year-old San Francisco man was arrested for knowingly possessing child pornography, the United States Attorney's Office announced Friday.

The arrest of Chad Andrew Carter followed a 2018 investigation in which pornographic videos were observed being displayed and streamed via an online Zoom chat room by someone with the user name TopRod, according to a criminal complaint filed on April 30.

The user name was traced to an IP address and email account in Carter's name. Homeland Security agents executed a search warrant for Carter's residence and electronic devices on Jan. 4 2018 that led to identification of more than 3,000 images and 469 videos of child pornography involving children as young as 3 years old.

At a detention hearing held Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen, Carter was released with conditions that include monitoring of his computer and electronics use and prohibiting contact with minors.His next court appearance is scheduled for May 27.

If convicted on the possession of child pornography charge, Carter faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, five years to a life term supervised release, a fine of $250,000, a special assessment of $5,000, criminal forfeiture, and restitution.

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