Post Falls man faces child porn charges
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 2 months AGO
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | July 20, 2021 1:00 AM
POST FALLS — Police said they found hundreds of images of child sexual abuse on a man’s computer.
Keith D. Sherman, 45, of Post Falls, is charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child by possession of sexually exploitive material, all felonies.
The Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force launched an investigation earlier this year, after a digital storage account belonging to Sherman was flagged because it allegedly contained images of child sexual abuse, according to court documents.
Police obtained a warrant to review the account, which they said contained more than 70 images of nude children, as well as images of adults performing sex acts on children.
Some of the children in the images were as young as 6 years old, police said.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sherman’s Post Falls residence last week.
When questioned by police, Sherman allegedly said he came across the images while searching for adult pornography.
He told police he saved the images onto his computer, which automatically synched with his digital storage account, but later deleted them out of guilt.
Police said they found more than 500 images of child sexual abuse on Sherman’s laptop.
District Judge Timothy Van Valin ordered Sherman not to access the internet or use a cellphone.
He also ordered that Sherman have no contact with any minor under the age of 18 without another adult present.
Sherman posted $75,000 bail.
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