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Feds: 28K child porn images found on Fort Wayne man’s computer

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — A Fort Wayne man has been federally charged with possession and distribution of child pornography after agents reported finding nearly 30,000 images and almost 500 videos of the matter on his computer.

According to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Timothy Boerger became the subject of an investigation in September when an agent began looking into the BitTorrent network for sharing of child pornography. The investigation found an IP address associated with Boerger’s Lake Avenue home had shared a download of more than 3,000 files.

On Sept. 30, agents downloaded those files from Boerger’s computer, the charging information states. Then, from Nov. 17 to Jan. 2, agents downloaded more than 28,000 images and 470 videos from the computer, most containing child pornography, according to the complaint.

In addition, agents found “several thousand images and/or videos” of child pornography on Boerger’s computer.

The images uncovered by federal agents reportedly came from a modeling front based in Ukraine that streamed child pornography on several different domains and websites. Some 1,500 girls, age six to 16, modeled for the agency, the complaint detailed. Under pressure from the U.S. State Department, the studio was raided by Ukraine authorities and the child porn ring leaders were arrested, but they were later released and most of the parents of the girls refused to pursue charges, the complaint detailed.

Federal agents served a search warrant at Boerger’s home at 1818 Lake Ave. on March 9. When the agents arrived, Boerger reportedly ran to his second-floor bedroom and barricaded himself in, according to court documents.

A negotiator told Boerger they were at the home on a child pornography investigation, and Boerger reportedly told the agent “that it was bad and he was going to go to jail,” according to the charging information. After 40 minutes, communication with Boerger stopped and an Allen County SWAT team rushed the home.

Boerger was found inside in a “catatonic state” from ingesting a large amount of prescription pills to commit suicide, the charging information detailed. He was taken to a hospital for care.