A North Carolina man is facing five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after getting caught up in a child porn sting by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Lenoir Police Department. Curtis Kacludis has been charged with both illegal possession and distribution of child pornography.
The felony sex crimes charges were made after police seized and searched Kacludis’ personal computer. He was arrested and was being held in Caldwell County.
North Carolina has created three degrees of the sex crime of sexual exploitation of a minor. It’s likely that Kacludis is facing second degree sexual exploitation charges, a Class E felony, for distributing child porn and third degree exploitation charges, a Class H felony, for possessing child pornography.
There are many ways that law enforcement use to track digital child pornography. Law enforcement agencies may use special software to find and track child pornography on the internet. File-sharing programs may also help law enforcement track distributors of illegal pornography.
Earlier this year, Homeland Security arrested four people in the Charlotte area and two in Raleigh on child porn charges as part of the Operation Sunflower sting. It was a month-long operation that netted 245 arrests on internet sex crimes involving children worldwide. The program also identified exploited children and was able to rescue more than 40 from their captors.
Source: WCNC, “Raid nets child pornography arrest in Lenoir,” April 30, 2013