A Simi Valley teenager faces almost two dozen felony charges for allegedly using a minor for sex acts and possessing over 600 images depicting sexual exploitation of children and babies, authorities said Friday.
The 17-year-old was arrested Tuesday, after the FBI served a search warrant at the juvenile’s home, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office.
That search and arrest followed an investigation the district attorney’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Unit launched in August after receiving multiple tips regarding mass distribution of child pornography online, prosecutors said.
According to authorities, the teen is currently being held at the Ventura County Juvenile Facilities in Oxnard, and faces 15 felony counts of using a minor for sex acts and seven felony counts related to possessing and distributing child pornography.
The juvenile also faces two special charges for possessing more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material, as well as images depicting sadomasochistic acts, according to authorities.
The juvenile, whose name was not released, had an initial court appearance on Thursday and is due back for a pretrial conference on Dec. 31.
The Simi Valley Police Department and Ventura County High Tech Task Force assisted the FBI in serving the search warrant.
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