SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — Investigators with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General have charged a 26-year-old Shippensburg man with 25 counts each of possession of child pornography and sexual abuse of children after a lengthy investigation that began in June 2019.
Wiatt Lee Dixon, of the 300 block of Farmington Drive, is also charged with one count of criminal use of a communication facility, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by investigators.
The investigation began on June 24, 2019, when the AOG received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the complaint states.
The report claimed the Center got a tip from Dropbox, Inc., an online storage system, that said between May 8 and 9, 2019, two sexually explicit child pornography files were uploaded by a Dropbox user called "Wyatt Earp."
Dropbox provided information on the user and IP addresses associated with the account, the complaint states.
Investigators viewed the files and determined they depicted children under the age of 18 engaged in sexual acts or poses.
Investigators issued subpoenas to Dropbox and Comcast and traced the user name and information to Dixon. They also sent a search warrant to Dropbox to view other files related to the "Wyatt Earp" username. They discovered several file folders containing other child pornography images, the complaint states.
There were at least 50 such images and videos located in the "Wyatt Earp" account, contained in file folders with names like "C-P," "Kiddies," "13-17 Teen Vids" and "VideosCP," investigators say.
On Wednesday, agents from the AOG, along with State Police troopers and agents from Homeland Security Investigations took Dixon into custody at the home on Farmington Drive. He was taken to the Shippensburg Police Department for questioning, the complaint states.
Dixon told investigators he had been living at the home in Shippensburg for about a year and a half, and provided access passwords to the desktop computer and laptop found in his bedroom, along with his cell phone, the complaint says.
Dixon allegedly admitted to using Dropbox to view pornography. He said he would find links on Twitter, click on the links, download them, and open them in his Dropbox account. He claimed that it was only after he opened the files in Dropbox that he realized they contained child pornography, according to the complaint.
He did not delete the images, but claimed he thought they would have been deleted when his Dropbox account was shut down. He said he believed his account was shut down because he violated Dropbox's Terms of Service agreement, according to the complaint.
Dixon allegedly told investigators he knew possessing child pornography was illegal, but claimed he did not intend to download child pornography specifically. He claimed he did not report the images to police because he believed he would get in trouble, the complaint states.
When his Dropbox account was shut down, Dixon claimed, he became scared because he thought it was because child pornography was found in it. He said he then deleted another of his online storage programs, but claimed he could not remember what the program was called, the complaint says.
