An FBI investigation into child sexual abuse material in St. Louis, Missouri, resulted in the arrest of a McAllen man.
The feds arrested Joshua Yap Salise, a United States citizen born in 2000, on Monday on a charge of accessing and possessing child sexual abuse material, which is commonly referred to as child pornography.
Authorities began investigating Salise Sept. 8 after agency counterparts in St. Louis notified McAllen agents about Salise.
That information involved a Tumblr account managed by a user called “Jaygoo365,” which the FBI alleges is linked to an email account used to solicit child sexual abuse material from a known law enforcement target in the St. Louis area, according to a criminal complaint.
The FBI paid Salise a visit at his residence Monday. An agent knocked on his door and told Salise, who was present with his father, that agents wanted to talk to him about his internet usage.
“Salise immediately appeared nervous. Salise asked that we speak without his father,” the complaint said.
When the FBI asked Salise whether agents would find anything on his phone that shouldn’t be there, the complaint indicated he replied: “Yes … CP.”
Salise then agreed to go with agents to the McAllen FBI office for an interview, according to the complaint.
During that interview, the FBI says Salise admitted to using Twitter to search for child pornography and downloading child sexual abuse material from unknown people on the internet despite knowing it was illegal to download or distribute the material, according to the complaint.
“Salise also confirmed that he was the person soliciting (child sexual abuse material) from the individual in the St. Louis investigation,” the complaint said.
A search of the man’s phone and two laptops resulted in the discovery of four videos showing two children being sexually abused, according to the complaint.
He made a first appearance Tuesday in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis, who ordered him temporarily held without bond pending probable cause and detention hearings scheduled for later this week, court records indicate.
