Man arrested on accusation of child pornography

[onlinemom]

A 34-year-old Portland man was arrested today by Multnomah County Sheriff's Office on accusation of illegal possession of child pornography.

Deputy Travis Gullberg, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department, said the Warrant Strike Team arrested Kevin Eugene Thornburg at 11 a.m. in Lake Oswego. Thornburg, being held in Multnomah County Jail on $120,000 bail, is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday.

Thornburg was indicted Monday by a Multnomah County grand jury on 24 counts of encouraging child sex abuse following a six-month investigation.

Det. Paul Farnstrom, who investigated for the Sheriff's Office, said a tip in connection with a report of online contact with a Washington state minor led to Thornburg.

He said Thornburg was contacted at his home and interviewed, and his computers were taken for forensic examination.

"We found child pornography, so we took that information to the grand jury,'' Farnstrom said.

The Sheriff's Office acted on information provided by Interagency Child Exploitation Prevention Team, a Wilsonville-based task force launched in October to track and catch suspected online predators seeking sex with children.

The task force got the information from Oregon Internet Crimes Against Children, which in November received a tip from Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Naval Criminal Investigative was investigating the reported Washington incident.

The task force, known as Intercept in law enforcement circles, was formed by representatives of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas county sheriff's offices, Oregon Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as local district attorneys.

Intercept has developed more than 50 cases against suspected online predators.

Original Story by: Wade Nkrumah
For full story go to: Man arrested on accusation of child pornography - Breaking News Updates from Portland and Oregon - The Oregonian - OregonLive.com