A popular adult entertainer has been arrested and charged in New York with sending and receiving "hundreds of video of child pornography."
James Smith, known by his porn star name Austin Wolf, is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court on Friday on one count of distribution and receipt of child pornography.
According to the Southern District of New York, Smith used Telegram to exchange hundreds of videos with another person, whose phone was seized by the FBI. Prosecutors said an undercover FBI agent used that person's Telegram account to chat with Smith.
Federal authorities ultimately conducted a search back in April of the 43-year-old porn star's Manhattan apartment, where prosecutors said an SD card was recovered containing hundreds of video of child porn.
The videos recovered by feds allegedly contained children as young as infants, and in at least one case depicted a 10-year-old child bound and raped by a man.
“I want to make it clear: those who distribute child sexual abuse images prey upon the most vulnerable in our society. Each image is a crime scene, leaving lasting scars on innocent victim," FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said in a statement on Friday.
The charge against Smith carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years. Attorney information for the entertainer was not immediately known.
