Northport man arrested on child porn charges
A Northport man is facing charges after a West Alabama Human Trafficking Task Force investigation involving material depicting child sexual abuse.
Thomas Ramos Chajal, 22, was charged Wednesday morning with eight counts of possession of pornographic material depicting the sexual abuse of a child and one count of disseminating material depicting the sexual abuse of a child.
He was placed in the Tuscaloosa County Jail with bond set at $150,000.
The arrest follows a multi-day operation conducted last week that led to the arrest of 10 suspects. As part of that investigation, officers set up profiles on dating apps posing as a teenage girl.
The profiles were contacted by more than 50 men. Investigators ensured the men knew the account holder’s supposed age at the beginning of each chat.
Even after they were informed the profile was for someone who was underage, 10 of the men continued communicating and suggested meeting for sex. Those men were arrested after arriving at the agreed-upon location.
“We conduct these investigations where officers pose as minors as a way to prevent exploitation of children,” said task force commander Capt. Phil Simpson. “But the young victims whose abuse is depicted in the material recovered this morning are very real. Every one of our investigations is ultimately intended to protect victims and potential victims from future abuse.”
The task force received assistance from the Joint Electronic Crimes Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations and the Alabama Internet Crimes Against Task Force.
