Cooper
A Greenwood man has been charged after thousands of nude images and videos of children were discovered on devices and storage cards that allegedly belonged to him.
Aaron M. Cooper, 38, is charged with possession of child pornography, a Level 5 felony.
Detectives with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office were first told about the images in August after a woman delivered a laptop, SD cards and thumb drives to them. A relative of the woman told detectives that the woman was physically sick over the images on the laptop. The woman had logged into the laptop onto an account reportedly belonging to Cooper and found nude images of children, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday in Johnson County Superior Court 2.
The woman told detectives that told Cooper what she had found, and he reportedly said he had a problem, referring to child pornography, the affidavit shows.
A few days earlier, the woman and Cooper were both out when a juvenile called to say that the woman needed to see what they had found on Cooper’s reported laptop. The juvenile had also been given an SD card by Cooper for a 3D printer, and when they plugged it in, they found nude images of women and girls. The woman later looked at the laptop and saw a nude image of a child, according to the affidavit.
When detectives spoke with Cooper, he allegedly admitted to the images on the SD card being his and said he downloaded the images and videos. He also admitted to giving the SD card to the juvenile by accident, the affidavit shows.
Cooper reportedly said he was “just curious” and that he was in a “relationship ‘funk’” and had downloaded images from the internet. He described using the dark web as a place to get the images, according to the affidavit.
During his interview, he also showed detectives how to get the images through the internet. He reportedly said he saved about 100 or fewer images, and that he believed some of the ages of those depicted were around 13 years old, the affidavit says.
Detectives also say Cooper allegedly admitted to having a problem and said he had already contacted someone to seek help. He later agreed to let detectives search his electronic devices and storage cards and said having the images was not OK.
Following a forensic search of devices, in September detectives received a report that showed that child pornography “had definitely been found” on the devices, the affidavit says.
The forensic report showed 2,666 images had been discovered, with most being images of underage females. Some images of children were believed to be around the age of 5, and some images showed them participating in sexual acts or being in provocative positions. Over 100 videos were found as well, including videos of children in sex acts with adults or other children, according to the affidavit.
Detectives later learned from Cooper’s attorney that he was enrolled in an in-patient treatment center, the affidavit shows.
Cooper was booked into Johnson County on Thursday afternoon, following a hearing that was held in lieu of a warrant. His initial hearing was waived, and Cooper entered an initial plea of not guilty, according to online court records.
His bond was initially set at $1,500 cash only. However, over prosecutor objections, it was reduced to $1,000 cash, online records show.
A pretrial hearing is set for Dec. 7.
