Child pornography case leads police to Rotterdam father accused of victimizing daughter

Police in Rotterdam arrested a 43-year-old father on a variety of child pornography charges, which also involved the exploitation of his young daughter. He was arrested at his Rotterdam home on Tuesday, and was remanded into custody on Friday. He will remain in jail for at least 14 more days while the investigation continues.

Dutch authorities said the case came to light because of information from law enforcement officials in the United States. “The information revealed that a person may have been abusing someone ‘hands on’ using a specific username that had been active on the child pornography chat site TorPedoChat,” the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) said in a statement.

Authorities in the U.S. worked with Europol earlier this month. They then shared details with the Dutch national police division team responsible for child pornography and child sex tourism investigations.

“Further police investigation into the username led to the conclusion that it appears in several environments used by individuals with a sexual preference for minors. The username turned out to be traced back to the 43-year-old man from Rotterdam,” the OM said. When police searched his home, they found a decrypted laptop connected to Tor, a way to browse internet sites more anonymously by masking location data, the OM claimed.

“Not only was child pornography found stored on the laptop, but also images of his underage daughter which have been classified as child pornography.” Police took the man into custody, and seized several data storage devices. The man is now formally suspected of possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography, and producing child pornography.

If there is enough evidence to pursue the case further, his next hearing is likely to be on 25 November. His pre trial detention could then be extended by another 90 days.

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