A resident of Graham County remains in custody of the U.S. Marshal Service after being arrested Wednesday on suspicion of distributing child pornography.
Eric LaVon Williams had his initial appearance Thursday at the U.S. District Court in Tucson. He will have an opportunity to argue for pretrial release during a detention hearing on July 11.
Williams, 34, came under investigation in late May when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children passed along a tip to federal authorities that a user of the social media platform Kik had uploaded more than 200 files containing suspected Child Sex Abuse Material (CSAM) over a two-week period in March and April.
According to the criminal complaint, the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office in Douglas led the investigation which was complicated by the fact the files were shared under the Kik user’s account via numerous Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
“Agents reviewed all 223 files and determined that 63 files depicted verifiable CSAM,” the criminal complaint states. “Among others, agents discovered child pornography videos of a female child who appears to be between the age of three (3) to five (5) years old.”
The complaint filed by an HSI special agent notes one of the IP addresses was registered to a Verizon account belonging to Williams. In addition, the email address used to when the Kik account was opened matched the email address used to register Williams’s Facebook account.
On Wednesday, HSI personnel with backup from the Graham County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Williams’ residence outside the town of Pima. Details of what items they seized has not yet been made public.
However, the complaint does note Williams made incriminating statements during a post-Miranda interview about using Kik for the purpose of accessing child pornography. He also reportedly explained the efforts he undertook to find the illicit images.
Court records show Jorge Leonardo Costales of the Federal Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent Williams. A trial date will be set once U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynnette Kimmons decides whether Williams should be released from detention while his case is adjudicated.