A convicted sex offender was arrested over the weekend for allegedly downloading child pornography on a computer at a South Bay library and then distributing the images to other people, authorities reported Monday.
"The library, you would never expect that," concerned father Jaime Ulloa said, as he watched his daughter on the playground next to the library.
A software-based alert system notified employees at National City Public Library that inappropriate materials were being accessed online there about 3 p.m. Saturday, according to police.
"It's gross. How could you do that to a kid?" Ulloa said.
Officers arrested the suspected perpetrator, 37-year-old Julio Martinez of National City, who allegedly was in possession of more than 100 child-pornography videos and admitted to trading them with others.
Martinez was booked into county jail on suspicion of possessing child pornography -- a crime for which he has been previously convicted -- and distributing the illegal materials. He also will face a charge of failing to register as a sex offender, according to police.
The computer on which Martinez allegedly downloaded the obscene materials was seized as evidence in the case, police said.
The Children’s Internet Protection Act requires that K-12 schools and libraries use Internet filters to protect children from harmful online content as a condition for federal funding, said Lauren Maxilom, a management analyst for National City.
“The patron was using a filtered computer and looks like he was able to bypass the filtering software,” Maxilom said.
“No filtering software is foolproof and there have been occasional instances of people bypassing the filtering system to view inappropriate materials on the Internet,” Maxilom said.
Martinez's bail was set at $50,000.
