Hundreds of child porn files found on Mishawaka man's laptop

Hundreds of files of child pornography were found on a Mishawaka man's laptop in the latest bust by St. Joseph County cyber crimes investigators.

William Eugene Evans Jr. was arrested Wednesday and released on bail, charged with one count of child exploitation and three counts of possession of child pornography.

Evans Jr. had no comment Thursday as he left his arraignment in St. Joseph County Superior Court, he shielded his face with a piece of paper and walked away with a second man.

According to court documents, the investigation into Evans internet use started on February 11, 2016. A member of the St. Joseph County Police Department, working cybercrimes, was able to download files containing child pornography from an IP address later tied to Evans' laptop.

Evans allegedly used BitTorrent, a computer program that allows users to simultaneously download and share files over the internet. It's defining feature is that it allows files to be transferred between multiple computers at the same time, and every time a user downloads a torrent it uploads, meaning users are constantly sharing.

The image the cyber crimes investigator was able to download on February 11 was of a prepubescent girl, completely naked.

A few weeks later, police exercised a search warrant at Evans' Mishawaka apartment and seized a cellphone and laptop registered in Evans' name. Investigators found 500 files of child pornography stored in the laptop's Recycle Bin including images of provocatively clothed and posed young girls and even graphic sexual images of toddlers.

Evans is scheduled to appear again in court for an initial hearing on June 16th.