A 35-year-old man charged with possessing more than 600 images of child pornography has been ordered to stand trial for the alleged offense.
Donald Anthony Little, who in the summer worked at a hobby store in Saugus, appeared Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court for a preliminary hearing.
During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present evidence in the case, after which the defense is offered a chance to respond. In the end, the judge decides if the case should go to trial.
“Yesterday, he was held to answer as charged,” Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told The Signal Wednesday.
Little is now scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 3 on the charges filed against him.
He was arrested shortly after 10 a.m. on April 26 by DA prosecutors who filed a two-count felony complaint against him.
According to the felony complaint, Little is accused of sending and/or bringing obscene matter into the state for sale and that he unlawfully distributed images depicting sexual conduct by a minor through the “peer-to-peer” website known as Gnutella.
Gnutella is an online file sharing protocol. Like Napster, also a peer-to-peer protocol, Gnutella is used to share files.
Little is also charged with possessing more than 600 images of child or youth pornography, according to the felony complaint.
With regards to that specific, charge according to the complaint, Little “knowingly possessed or controlled images of child pornography on a laptop, the production of which involved the use of a person under 18 years of age, knowing that the matter depicted a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct.”
The felony complaint against Little further alleges that among the 600 images found in his possession, at least 10 of them were images of a prepubescent minor or a minor who was under 12 years of age.
According to arrest documents maintained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Inmate Information Center, Little posted bail about 12 hours after his arrest.
Prosecutors made the arrest following a two-month investigation.
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