Arrest in Ohio leads to 3 Metro Detroit men being charged in child pornography case
An investigation and arrest in Toledo, Ohio, has led to the arrest of three Metro Detroit men for allegedly possessing child pornography.
All three men have been charged in criminal complaints with receipt of child pornography. Two of the men were also charged with possession of child pornography.
According to criminal complaints filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, a man was arrested in March 2025 after traveling to Ohio to allegedly engage in sex acts with minors. Authorities say the man connected online with an undercover agent who posed as the children's parents.
Federal authorities seized the man's cellphone and uncovered inappropriate videos and photos that the man received and sent to other people, according to court documents. Federal agents also uncovered messages in the Ohio suspect's phone of people discussing "their mutual sexual interest in children" while sharing various materials, according to the complaints.
Investigators executed search warrants in November 2025 and December 2025 at residences in Detroit and Farmington Hills, uncovering hundreds of images depicting child pornography.
In June 2025, the Ohio suspect identified one of the Michigan men as someone he met up with before to do drugs and watch child sexual abuse material, according to the complaints. Federal investigators found messages between the two men dating back to 2022.
Authorities executed a search warrant at the man's Detroit home in November 2025, seizing 38 media storage devices, 19 of which were believed to be directly associated with the suspect, according to court documents. One of the devices seized, a cellphone, included images that the suspect received in March 2018.
Investigators executed search warrants for the second Michigan man's home after discovering messages with the Ohio suspect. That suspect admitted to communicating with the third Michigan man, who is currently on probation for domestic violence, the complaint states.
Authorities approached the third suspect, who admitted to receiving images but claimed he thought they were generated by artificial intelligence.
They discovered that the suspects used the Telegram app to communicate. One of the Michigan suspects is accused of attempting to delete the app from his phone when he learned that there was an investigation, according to court documents.