Customs and Border officer caught in FBI child pornography investigation in Michigan
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested after the FBI investigated an exchange of over 500 digital images involving sexual activity among children and teens.
The FBI was working in coordination with the border patrol's Office of Professional Responsibility, a CBP agency spokesperson said in a statement. As a result of the investigation, the spokesperson said, Scott James Rocky of Center Line, Michigan, "was arrested Thursday on charges relating to materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors."
The criminal complaint alleged that Rocky violated federal laws on receipt and distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography between April 15 and May 1 in Wayne County, according to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The FBI agent on the investigation explained in his report to the court that he was signed into a peer-to-peer file sharing network called BitTorrent on April 29 when he identified a computer using a specific Internet Protocol address connected to multiple files that had keywords or hash values related to potential child pornography.
That agent was able to determine that on April 15, someone using that computer shared about 530 files with "names consistent with names used for files containing child pornography."
Upon further investigation, the officer determined that "many of the files appear to depict real minor children between the ages of four and ten years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct."
After that information was received, a federal search warrant was executed. A desktop computer was manually reviewed, with a file name in the German language that described sexual activity involving children.
In addition, an external hard drive found near the computer had additional files that included videos that appeared to depict children and teens engaging in sexual acts.
"CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe," the agency spokesperson said. "CBP will cooperate fully with all criminal or administrative investigations of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, whether it occurs on or off duty."
