Investigators with the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 26 arrested Mustang’s Joshua Paul Wayne Mackey, 46, on multiple charges, including aggravated possession of child pornography.
Investigators received a cyber-tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation about a residence in Mustang where child pornography was being distributed over social media.
A court order for the suspect’s IP address revealed the residence belonging to Mackey.
Investigators applied for and obtained a search warrant for Mackey’s home to locate the child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that was reported by NCMEC.
During the execution of the search warrant, multiple electronic devices were located and examined on scene.
A flash drive belonging to Mackey was examined and found to have more than 450 media files of CSAM, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
The media examined allegedly possessed files with minor children approximately 5 to 14 years of age engaging in sexual acts with other children, adults and of children posing nude.
A forensic examination was conducted at the scene, and investigators determined Mackey had allegedly attempted to erase and clean up the devices that he used to download CSAM.
Investigators believed Mackey did this when the social media site terminated his account for violating “terms of use, according to the sheriff’s office release.
Sheriff’s officials said it is common for predators to save the CSAM to other locations because of their addiction to CSAM.
A thumb drive was discovered in Mackey’s bedroom possessing what is believed to be the files and downloads he had deleted and cleared from his computer.
The investigation also determined Mackey allegedly tried to deploy various countermeasures to prevent detection.
The steps Mackey used to avoid detection allegedly included secure folders with separate passwords, virtual private networks to mask his IP address, and resetting devices to remove data.
Canadian County investigators recovered evidence from the devices that included an email address Mackey allegedly used to register with the social media site to download CSAM and various CSAM media files.
“I’m extremely thankful for the work of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the work they do in providing law enforcement with cyber-tips,” Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said.
“In this case, we were able to use their information and make Mackey’s arrest.”
Mackey was taken into custody at his residence for aggravated possession of child pornography and he was transported to the Canadian County Jail.
Since Mackey’s arrest, sheriff’s investigators have determined two other devices belonging to Mackey allegedly contain CSAM.
Additional charges, including another count of aggravated possession of child pornography and possession of child pornography, will be presented to the Canadian County District Attorney’s Office.
Mackey remains in custody with a bond of $200,000.
