The manhunt for a child porn suspect has ended a little more than a day after federal authorities released pictures of the man believed to have raped a young girl on video.
Pictures of the child porn suspect were released Tuesday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. On Wednesday, a call from the public on ICE’s tip line led police to arrest John Doe .
“The criminal complaint and arrest warrant for John Doe was signed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,” ICE noted in a press release sent Wednesday night. “At that time, HSI had no information about the identity of John Doe, but he was believed to be located somewhere in the United States. The victim he recorded being sexually abused is believed to be 7 to 9 years old.”
Federal investigators had released images of the man this week , hoping that someone from the public can step forward with information that leads to his identification.
The child porn videos, four in total, were originally found by Danish National Police. They shared the information with officials in the United States, where an agent determined from a bag of Rold Gold pretzels seen in one of the videos that the man and the girl must be in the United States. Time stamps on the video show they were recorded sometime in mid- to late-April.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials originally said the girl could still be in jeopardy and released the sanitized images of the stocky, balding suspect in order to hasten the process.
“We’ve had a couple of instances where we’ve tracked child predators down when we’ve asked for the public’s assistance,” said Carissa Cutrelle, a spokeswoman for ICE.
The man in the video was seen in a room filled with music paraphernalia including guitars, speakers, and a keyboard.
Federal authorities said they are withholding further information about the identity of the child porn suspect until his initial appearance in federal court.