Hungry Horse News

After an investigation by local police, a Columbia Falls man faces federal charges for possession of child pornography.

Robert Oren McCallum, 23, was picked up by Columbia Falls police and FBI agents Friday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on the pornography charge.

Police Chief Dave Perry said they began investigation McCallum in November of last year after a local pawn shop tipped them off that McCallum allegedly had child pornography on his computer.

McCallum had taken the computer to the pawn shop to get cash. Pawn shops often hold goods as collateral for loans. The pawn shop then asked McCallum the password and user name for the computer.

When McCallum gave it to them, they found the images, Perry said.

Police then seized the hard drive of the computer and had the images examined at the state crime lab. Perry said some of the images were positively identified as children under the age of 16. In some cases they were images of young boys, Perry said.

Perry said they then decided to turn the information over to federal prosecutors, because the penalties for possession of child pornography are more severe in the federal system.

McCallum was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn B. Ostby on Friday.

If convicted, McCallum faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release.

McCallum pled not guilty to the charge.