GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A Paw Paw man is in custody and charged with producing and distributing child pornography through an instant messaging app.
Joshua Richard Harrison, 24, allegedly used the Kik Messenger as "j_dizzle91" in a chat room called #nolimitpedofun in April 2015 and posted four photos. An undercover officer with Homeland Security in Wilmington, Delaware was in the chat room and captured the images. The images were traced back to Harrison, who was using the display name of "Mark Slade."
Michigan State Police met with Harrison on June 4 and he reportedly admitted to police that he was "j_dizzle91" and had posted images of child pornography to chat rooms on Kik between 30 and 40 times.
Detective Criger went to the address where the IP address originated from on KIK.
“It is a join investigation. We have identified two victims or children from southwest Michigan. There were numerous photographs, but it’s very hard to identify them because a lot of times they are from other states,” said Detective Sgt. Criger.
The address was Harrison’s father’s home. Court documents said Harrison admitted to signing onto the messenger program there. Harrison then led them to his residence, where police searched his room and collected four electronic devices, including an Ipod.
“Anytime a child is involved or the potential of other victims, we try to move as quickly as we can,” said Criger.
According to court documents, the Ipod contained a video on it that showed Harrison’s face. He was putting a recording device under a 6-year-old girl’s clothes. Harrison admitted to posting 40 sexually explicit photographs of children on KIK, and also admitted to taking a video of a 6-year-old girl and filming under her clothes in November of 2012. Detective Sgt. Criger said the parents of the girl were unaware of the activity going on with Harrison.
“Most of the time they [parents] don’t. Especially when there are young victims, they can just be posing like they are taking pictures, but you have to really watch your kids and you have to trust who they are around,” said Criger.
Harrison was transferred Tuesday to Grand Rapids where he will be under federal prosecution. Criger said are working with the Feds to identify the other children, and see if there are other videos and photos produced by Harrison.
“Obviously there are new apps invented every day and it’s really difficult to keep up with the trends. Every time parents or law enforcement gets used to one of them they change to another,” said Criger.
Harrison is being charged with both federal and state child porn charges.
This is an ongoing investigation, so Detective Criger could not get into any more details about the case. Fox 17 News will post the latest information as it becomes available.
