In a complaint that was made public, an FBI agent stated that 43-year-old New York City resident Justin Heath Smith sent and received hundreds of videos showing child sexual abuse through the Telegram messaging app. The DOJ mentioned in a news release that these videos included footage of infants being sexually abused.
Smith is famous in the LGBTQ adult film industry and has gained more popularity through social media recently. He has almost a million followers on X platform and is known on TikTok for working with well-liked creators.
If found guilty, Smith could be sentenced to up to 20 years for distributing and receiving child pornography, and up to 10 years for possessing child pornography.
Smith did not respond right away to a request for comment.
The complaint said that in March, Smith's anonymous Telegram account exchanged child sexual abuse material with an account that the FBI had seized and searched. An undercover FBI agent then began messaging Smith's account, and Smith later shared personal details, according to the complaint.
Smith managed a Telegram channel with over 12,000 subscribers, which was linked on one of his websites.
The complaint says that the next month, the FBI searched Smith's Manhattan apartment and found an SD card containing child sexual abuse material.
FBI Assistant Director James Smith said, "People who share child sexual abuse images target the most vulnerable in society. Each image is a crime scene that leaves lasting scars on innocent victims. The FBI is determined to catch these offenders. We will find them, arrest them, and make sure they face justice for the harm they cause."
Telegram is known as an online platform where content that has been banned on other sites can be shared or traded with fewer restrictions.
Telegram states that it will enforce rules against illegal content in broadcast channels, but on its website, it clarifies that it does not monitor any messages exchanged between users.
A spokesperson for Telegram did not reply right away to a request for comment.
SOURCE: NBC News