A 30-year-old Beaumont man accused of producing and distributing child pornography via the internet, using a girl to create the material, was charged Friday with multiple felony offenses.
Devynn Michael Perez was arrested Tuesday following an investigation by the Riverside County Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement — SAFE — task force, whose members had been alerted to the defendant’s alleged illicit activity by the FBI.
Perez is charged with four counts of possession of child porn, two counts of transferring child porn across state lines, and one count each of child cruelty, selling child porn, possession of an assault weapon and illegal possession of a firearm.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $70,000 bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and is slated to make his initial court appearance at the Banning Justice Center Monday.
According to prosecutors, FBI agents in Louisiana were conducting an investigation that allegedly led to Perez as the source of explicit images of minors circulating online.
Information was turned over to the SAFE team, culminating in Perez being arrested at his workplace on Onyx Lane in Beaumont, the District Attorney’s Office said.
“The task force obtained and served a search warrant at Perez’s home, where task force members found an unregistered AR-15 weapon and evidence related to the investigation,” according to an agency statement.
The girl whom the defendant allegedly abused was identified in court documents only as Jane Doe, under 12 years old.
The length of time that Perez allegedly produced the child porn was not specified. However, court papers state that more than 600 illicit images were seized from his residence.
The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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