SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A U.S. Navy sailor based in San Diego was arrested on child porn charges, a Navy official confirmed to ABC 10News Tuesday.
According to documents filed in federal court, Cameron Hoffman was arrested on Oct. 12 on two child porn charges: one for possessing images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and another for actively trying to receive more.
The Navy official says Hoffman was assigned to a squadron at Naval Air Station North Island.
"The Navy is cooperating fully with the Dept. of Justice and NCIS,” the Navy's statement reads. “The alleged actions by this service member do not reflect the values and high standards of conduct by the men and women of the U.S. Navy.”
NCIS caught wind of the alleged child porn possession on Sept. 22, when Hoffman's roommate in the barracks sent a tip to NCIS' Multiple Threat Alert Center, according to the court documents.
The roommate grew suspicious of Hoffman after he said "he didn't want kids, but that he liked [a] child, liked hanging out in the child's room and liked hanging out with the child at the park," the court document states. On Sept. 15, the roommate accessed Hoffman's phone while he was asleep and found child sexual abuse material in the photo gallery, the document says.
NCIS later interviewed the roommate on Sept. 27 to get more details about the photos and videos on the phone.
On Oct. 12, NCIS agents contacted Hoffman, told him his rights and what the investigation was about. The court document says Hoffman waived his rights and agreed to speak with the agents.
"Hoffman admitted that he has viewed and downloaded child pornography since middle school," the court document states. "Hoffman stated the child pornography that he downloaded was maintained on his cellular telephone and one of the manners he obtained the captioned child pornography was by the social media messaging application, Telegram."
The document went on to say Hoffman told investigators he paid someone on Telegram in exchange for the child sexual abuse materials. He had also referenced having a "collection" of child pornography.
After the interview, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued a search warrant for Hoffman's phone, and investigators looked through thousands of photos and videos on the device. The court document says "various" pictures and videos depicted child sexual abuse materials, but an exact number was not listed.
Hoffman faces the following federal charges under Title 18 U.S. Code § 2252:
- Attempted receipt of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct
- Possession of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct
