Detectives say a man accused of downloading child pornography admitted doing so for years

A Venice man is accused of possessing child pornography after an investigation connected his IP address to downloading previously identified pornographic files.

Mark Alan Childress, 56, was arrested Wednesday morning and was charged with 40 counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. He is being held at the Sarasota County jail without bond.

But Childress did not deny the accusations, according to detectives.

“Childress told detectives he has been collecting child pornography for many years, so there may be hundreds or thousands of additional images and videos of child pornography found on his electronic devices,” the lead detective wrote in an arrest report.

The investigation into Childress began when detectives with the sheriff’s office Intelligence Unit investigating crimes against children identified his IP address as having downloaded files containing child pornography, according to an arrest report. The files had been downloaded between April 16, 2016 and Aug. 22.

Childress is accused of using his IP address to offer to share the pornographic files, and undercover detectives say they were able to download pornographic photos and videos that did depict children. The IP address was traced back to Childress’ girlfriend with whom he has lived with for almost five years, according to the report.

On Wednesday morning, detectives went to Childress’ home in the 3300 block of Orange Road in Venice with a search warrant signed by a judge authorizing them to search the home. Detectives first spoke with Childress’ girlfriend who allegedly told them no one else lived in the home and that she had not been involved.

Childress agreed to speak with detectives, they reported, and admitted to having downloaded the child pornography. Detectives also say he told them where his laptops and other electronic devices, which contained the files in question, were inside his van and provided them with his passwords.

A preliminary digital forensics scan of his hard rive found at least 40 images depicting child pornography, according to the report.

The additional digital evidence collected will be forensically examined, and Childress could face more charges.

“Of particular concern, Childress also told detectives that he frequently travels to Thailand and that his passport is filled with stamps from there,” the lead detective wrote in the report. “He did not disclose his purpose for the trips, however, this is a known country people travel to for child prostitution.”

His girlfriend told detectives that the last time she could remember Childress had visited Thailand was two years ago.

According to the Sarasota County jail’s booking records, Childress’ listed occupation is refurbishing hot tubs.

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Detectives say a man accused of downloading child pornography admitted doing so for years."