A tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to the arrest Thursday of a 25-year-old Odessa man on a child pornography charge.
According to a Texas Department of Public Safety report, after special agents received a tip from the center, they obtained search warrants for certain email addresses and discovered more than 1,000 child pornography images and videos.
A special agent interviewed the man associated with the email addresses, Joe Angel Lara, and he confessed he’s been viewing hundreds of child pornography images since he was 15 on the Dark Web, despite knowing it was wrong, the report stated. He gave agents permission to search his apartment and they found a cell phone with child porn images and videos on it.
Lara was arrested on suspicion of possession or promotion of child pornography, a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison. He remains in the Ector County jail on a $20,000 surety bond.
