KENT COUNTY, Mich. — A former janitor at Forest Hills Public Schools was indicted Wednesday for possessing and distributing child pornography.
Bradley Arkesteyn, 28, of Rockford, was previously charged by criminal complaint after he admitted to having a sexual interest in children and seeking out child pornography.
“My office will always fight to protect the most vulnerable,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten, who oversaw the indictment. “Every image of child exploitation is a crime, whether possessed, viewed, or distributed. My team will continue working with our law enforcement partners to hold offenders accountable.”
The Metropolitan Police Department-Federal Bureau of Investigation (MPD-FBI) Child Exploitation Task Force in Washington D.C. uncovered Arkesteyn's activities after infiltrating a group on the social media platform Kik.
Court documents show that an undercover agent began messaging back and forth with Arkesteyn on Kik after he shared child pornography with the group.
During the course of the conversation with the undercover FBI agent, Arkesteyn allegedly sent a link to nearly 2TB of child pornography.
Less than a week later on March 19, investigators executed a search warrant on Arkesteyn's home.
FBI Special Agents interviewed Arkesteyn, where he allegedly admitted to using Kik and Telegram to receive and send child pornography. He also allegedly admitted to purchasing child pornography from other users on Telegram.
Court documents said that Arkesteyn admitted to viewing child pornography for a decade, beginning when he was as young as 18.
Arkesteyn told investigators in the interview that he works at two different elementary schools as a janitor and has admitted to smelling the shoes of the students.
One of the two schools in which Arkesteyn worked have not been made public.
Arkesteyn is set to be arraigned on Wednesday, April 24.
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