Kenosha man charged with child porn possession; 39,000 files found
KENOSHA, Wis. - A Kenosha man was arrested for possession of child porn, with investigators finding tens of thousands of files containing child porn on his computer.
Ryan J. St. John, 46, faces 10 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of child sexual exploitation.
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It's a case that began in 2023 with a cyber tip.
According to the criminal complaint, an investigator from the Racine County Sheriff's Office contacted a detective at the Kenosha Police Department regarding an investigation into the eDonkey Network.
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Ryan St. John
The eDonkey Network is a free, decentralized, Peer-2-Peer (P2P) file-sharing network where users can send files to other people over the internet.
The investigation revealed the network was being used for sharing child pornography, with a specific IP address identified.
Using investigative software, a direct connection was made to the device with that IP address, and the investigator downloaded a file that was determined to be child pornography.
"I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people that do this kind of thing," said Kenosha detective Pete Deates, the lead investigator on the case. "It’s very difficult, unless someone is very tech-savvy and intelligent in that, to hide."
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The IP address was subpoenaed, which showed the IP address was assigned to Ryan St. John at a residence near 20th Ave and 85th St in Kenosha.
The complaint goes on to state a search warrant was executed at that address on May 30, and multiple electronic devices were collected. A small marijuana growing operation was found in the basement as well.
"There’s a lot of things in place for us to catch these people," Deates said.
One computer found was attributed to St. John, and he provided the password to authorities.
The hard drive of that computer was analyzed, and about "39,000 items of child pornography" were found, per the complaint.
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The complaint states that 10 video files were described, correlating to each count of possession of child pornography, but also notes that investigators have "only examined about 5% of the total data that needs to be examined in this matter."
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Ryan St. John
"It’s just, it’s terrible. It’s terrible," Deates said. "The individuals that were victimized to make this kind of content and the victimization continues because the people that are now affected is the family."
Following an initial appearance on Thursday, June 13, St. John's cash bond was set at $100,000. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday, June 20.
"The most important thing we want everybody to know is how seriously we take these cases," Deates said.