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Former ACU student arrested for distribution of child pornography

A 22-year-old former Abilene Christian University student is in custody in Tennessee, awaiting extradition to Texas.
Credit: Abilene Police Department

ABILENE, Texas — A former Abilene Christian University student has been arrested for distribution of child pornography, after Abilene Police received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the activity.

According to a press release from the Abilene Police Department, APD's Cyber Crimes Unit received information from NCMEC in December 2018, leading them to believe a suspect in Abilene was distributing child pornography in both Abilene and Nashville, Tenn. The material was distributed from July 2018 to December 2018, according to the APD.

The unit worked closely with the ACU Police Department to identify the suspect, former ACU student, Jonathan Linares, 22, of Nashville.

Authorities found that Linares had moved back to Nashville in January 2019, after his Fall semester, and did not intend to return to the school. After detectives interviewed Linares, he was charged with distributing child pornography while in Abilene, via the social media app, Tumblr.

The detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Linares and contacted the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Nashville to secure his arrest. Linares was arrested on an outstanding Taylor County warrant for second-degree felony distribution of child pornography on Jan. 18, 2019, and is in Nashville, awaiting extradition to Texas.

In the release, the APD said, "Social media applications such as Tumblr, KiK, TikTok, SnapChat, Dropbox, Facebook, and many others are used by individuals who target your children in an attempt to exploit them. Parents need to become the first line of defense and monitor the use of these applications."

  

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