SANTA CRUZ (KRON) — The Santa Cruz police department has concluded a months-long child pornography investigation by arresting a man accused of downloading it, police said.
On Thursday afternoon at around noon in the 3700 block of Vista Drive in Soquel, detectives served a search warrant and arrested the suspect.
Police seized a number of computers and external drives used to download and provide child pornography on different networks, according to police.
The suspect, 43-year-old Johnathan Wells, confessed to both downloading child pornography as well as making files available for sharing on different websites, police said.
“Over the following months, detectives used an undercover identity and were able to access shared files containing child pornography on the network. This included child pornography files being shared by Mr. Wells,” police spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke said in a press release.
Wells is a metal shop worker in San Jose, police said. He was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail for possession of child pornography.
During the search of Wells’ home, police said they seized 39 guns, including six handguns, two assault rifles, large caliber rifles, and black powder firearms.
Investigators are trying to determine if the guns were legally owned by Wells.