A former Eastern Michigan University student was charged Tuesday with three counts of child pornography for having numerous pictures and videos of unclothed children under the age of 12 on his computer, according to federal court records.
A grand jury indicted Jacob Snyder, 18, on a count each of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography, the records indicate.
The pornography was located on Snyder’s Dell laptop after a warrant was executed at his father’s home in the 5800 block of Textile Road in Ypsilanti Township, according to an affidavit signed by Bradley Manning, a special agent with the United States Customs Service.
Officials believe some of the child pornography was obtained through his father’s IP address at the Textile address. The computer was searched with Snyder's consent, according to the affidavit.
He was also interviewed twice on Sept. 27, 2012, first at his dormitory room on the EMU campus, then at the Textile Road residence.
Court records state Snyder was a freshman at the time. The EMU student directory shows he is no longer enrolled.
Snyder told federal authorities he used peer-to-peer file sharing networks like Limewire and Ares, records show. A forensic examination of the Dell computer, which Snyder received as a Christmas gift in 2011, reveals that Ares software was downloaded on it.
In the interviews, Snyder admitted to using the service “for maintaining and trafficking child pornography” while using the Internet access subscribed to by his father.
Court records indicate Snyder used Ares and Google to search terms like “sexy” and “teen.”
Snyder told authorities he would delete “stuff” that he considered “gross” because the subjects were too young, according to the affidavit. When asked by investigators what was too young, Snyder said, “8” in the first interview and “15” in the second.
Snyder admitted his Dell Laptop contained child pornography, “and that he had additional hard drives containing child pornography in a storage locker that was part of a storage business owned by his family,” according to the court records.
Ypsilanti police said this case was not related to the July incident involving child pornography being found in the National Storage Center. Detective Sgt. Thomas Eberts said the investigation into that case continues.
On Snyder's computer, officials eventually found 47 images and 171 videos depicting children, including some under the age of 12, “engaged in the lascivious display of the genital and pubic area,” court records indicate.
Synder was released into his mother’s custody on $10,000 bond with several conditions, including no unsupervised contact with minors and that he not view or possess any sexually explicit material.
A preliminary examination is set for Friday and a jury trial before Judge Denise Page Hood in U.S. District Court for Oct. 1.
No booking picture of Snyder was available, a federal official said.
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.