Chad A. Holste - Indicted for possession of Child Porn

A federal grand jury has indicted an East Bay man on charges of possessing child pornography including explicit photos of toddlers and babies, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Chad A. Holste, 19, of Fremont and the Redding area, was indicted Thursday on one count each of using a computer to knowingly transport visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and of possessing images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Affidavits filed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent say Holste used the "Google Hello" file-sharing program to transport about 90 child-pornography images to an undercover special agent in Seattle.

This agent had provided police in London, England with information allowing them to arrest someone there who admitted to having about 2,500 child-pornography images on his computer, and to having exchanged photos with others. Information from that person's computer was then sent back to the agent in Seattle, who traced a Google Hello username to Holste's DeVry University dorm room in Fremont and to his parents' home in Palo Cedro, near Redding.

Federal agents searched Holste's dorm room Jan. 16. A search of the desktop computer they seized there revealed images of child pornography including visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct as well as sexually explicit images of babies and toddlers.

Holste was arrested on the day of the search, made his first court appearance the next day in Oakland, and has remained behind bars since. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 5.

Transporting child pornography is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, with a mandatory minimum of five years, and a fine of up to $250,000. Possessing child pornography is punishable by up to 10 years and $250,000.