The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - A man was accused of using his cell phone to take photographs that constitute child pornography - pictures that were discovered when he lost the phone at a rib festival, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Kenneth P. Jeffries II, 22, of Sharpsville, was charged with production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
The charges came after two people found a cell phone on July 10 at the Mahoning Valley Rib Burn Off in Niles, Ohio, and later turned it over to police in to Howland, Ohio, prosecutors said. Investigators traced the phone to Jeffries.
One series of shots on the phone shows a young boy, about 10 years old, with his underwear being pulled down to his thighs, exposing his buttocks, prosecutors said.
When authorities searched Jeffries' house on Monday, he admitted taking the photos, prosecutors said. Jeffries told authorities he took the photos of the boy in Cleveland, they said.
Jeffries was in federal custody at the Allegheny County Jail. His attorney, federal public defender Thomas Livingston, was in court Thursday afternoon and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Jeffries was charged by criminal complaint, giving federal authorities the ability to hold Jeffries while they seek a grand jury indictment.
