Rochester Man Accused of Sharing Child Porn on Snapchat
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - An investigation that began last month has led to felony charges against a Rochester man accused of possessing and disseminating child pornography.
The criminal complaint against 33-year-old Emanuel Ernesto Zavala indicates Rochester Police investigators received a cyber tip on September 7 concerning 48 videos of suspected child sexual abuse material that had been uploaded to the Snapchat and Kik social media sites earlier in the year. The court document says the uploads occurred between April and June.
The charges also state that the cyber tip included information about 30 videos allegedly sent by Zavala to other users. Those videos depicted children between the ages of five and 11 years old engaged in sexual acts with adults.
According to the criminal complaint, investigators were able to link the social media accounts to Zavala and his southeast Rochester residence, where a search warrant was executed on October 1. It goes on to say that Zavala gave a statement to investigators and eventually admitted that "he had been sending images and videos of children engaging in sexual acts through Snapchat for more than a year."
He was formally arraigned in Olmsted County Court today on one count each of disseminating and possessing child pornography. A conviction on the dissemination charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Zavala's conditional bail was set at $5000.
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