MAIDEN, N.C.,None — A three-year investigation into allegations child pornography lead to the arrest of Jeffery Allen Lowman, 46, of 307 Springhill Lane in Maiden.
Lowman was served with grand jury indictments Wednesday on four felony charges of second-degree exploitation of a minor following a joint investigation by the Maiden Police Department and the SBI. He's being held on a $150,000 secured bond.
The investigation began in 2008 after Maiden officers were informed that Lowman may have been involved in collecting and distributing child pornography.
They got a search warrant and raided Lowman's home. They seized a computer and related items. Investigators found images of child pornography on the machines, said Lt. Jamey Fletcher of the Maiden Police Department.
Investigators are not aware of any local victims, but, "If you download, reformat or burn child pornography to a disk, you're considered guilty of creating child pornography," Fletcher said.
It is unclear how long Lowman had been involved in child pornography, Fletcher said.
One reason it took three years to bring a grand jury indictment is that the SBI needed to do a forensic search of Lowan's computers and the SBI's lab is backed up, Fetcher said.
This investigation could lead to other arrests.
"A number of federal resources track these images to find out where the victims live and who they are," Fletcher said. "The information is gathered in this case and passed on to be used in other cases."
Trading child pornography is a secretive crime that practitioners are unlikely to brag about.
"There's no reason to think that his trading partners were in town. People who are into this type of thing seek each other out," Fletcher said. "Family, friends and relatives usually don't know – somebody found out this time."
Lowman is scheduled to appear in court today.
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