SAN DIEGO — A Carmel Valley ranch owner faces a pair of child pornography charges.
According to court documents unsealed in December, Christian Clews is charged with distribution and possession of "images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct."
Clews is the owner of Clews Ranch, a popular Carmel Valley horse ranch. The FBI served a search warrant at the ranch in October, and found more than 100 pictures and videos of child porn on his computer.
The complaint also describes eight specific images that he allegedly sent as text messages with his cell phone. The images are graphic. Descriptions in a federal court document state they show both boys and girls either naked or engaged in sex acts with other children and adults. One image even includes an animal.
The graphic details in this child porn indictment are stomach churning. On @10News 10 at 6:02, I'll tastefully break them down pic.twitter.com/OkXSDmxaEs
— Jared Aarons (@10NewsAarons) January 4, 2017
Some of the kids pictured are as young as toddler age.
The complaint does not say if any of the children are customers at the Clews Ranch.
After Clews was read his rights, he admitted to the crime when the FBI served the warrant at his house.
The San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has been investigating Clews since 2014, when a tech company tipped off the FBI about two images that were uploaded using Clews’ cell phone.
There’s no word on if Clews is still in jail, or out on bail. There's also nothing in the complaint about when he will have to be in court for his next appearance.
