Child porn inquiry spurs Hammond arrest

HAMMOND | A local man was taken into federal custody after officials in Connecticut were able to download child pornography from his laptop computer, according to federal court documents.

Adam William Buckler, of Hammond, was arrested after admitting to federal officers he took part in viewing and storing child pornography on his computer and an external hard drive.

A federal criminal complaint entered Thursday charged Buckler with distributing child pornography.

Buckler connected with FBI agents in Connecticut through a file-sharing program in September from a laptop computer in the basement of his Hammond home, a criminal complaint alleges.

Agents downloaded images from his computer depicting children estimated to be as young as 3 years old engaging in explicit acts with adults, court records state. Buckler is in his 20s, according to the complaint.

The federal agents contacted local FBI affiliates and launched an investigation to find out whose computer was sharing the explicit materials and traced the computer to Buckler's mother's home in the 7200 block of Carolina Avenue.

When officials executed a search warrant at the residence on Oct. 27 and asked Buckler if he knew why they were there, he told them, "because of what I do on the Internet," according to the records.

He led officials to his computer and hard drive under his bed where they found more than 1,000 images and more than 100 videos of children engaging in sexual activities, including an image involving a toddler estimated to be between 8 months and 2 years old.

Buckler admitted he owned the online screen name that he originally shared with the Connecticut agents.