A detective with the multiagency Internet Crimes Against Children task force raided a Saugus home Dec. 1 in search of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, after receiving a tip about a Kik user leading back to the home on Hickory Place.
The detectives were alerted March 21 through a reporting system created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to a search warrant issued earlier this month.
The messaging service used an IP address to track the suspect in the report that was shared with the detective from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau’s Stop Abuse From Existing, or SAFE team.
The material in the report indicated there were depictions of two female victims believed to be under the age of 12 in a “pornographic nature.”
The detective indicated that AT&T responded in November to a request for a search of IP addresses that could lead back to the alleged sender.
Once that was uncovered, the detective learned the person listed as the registered owner had died and a 38-year-old male suspect was identified. The detective also learned the email address associated with the Kik account was linked to a phone registered to the suspect believed to be living at the targeted address, according to a sworn affidavit seeking a search of the home.
A receipt from the warrant indicated that a Samsung phone with a cracked screen was seized.
Multiple attempts to reach the LASD’s SAFE team were not answered as of this story’s publication.
The suspect has not yet been arrested based on L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and Department of Justice custody records available online.
