PORTAGE | A Portage man was arrested Tuesday after federal officials said he was found downloading and possessing child pornography.
Michael Hostetler, 29, of Portage, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday while working at a Chesterton fast food restaurant, according to documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
An FBI agent stated in court documents that a Michigan City detective launched a peer-to-peer file sharing investigation March 21 and found 21 files believed to depict minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The files were being shared by an IP address later determined to be Hostetler's, documents state. Michigan City police subsequently involved the FBI.
The FBI agent downloaded four of the files, allegedly from Hostetler, and found one video depicted a man abusing a sleeping 4-year-old girl, documents state. Two other videos showed girls engaging in sex acts with a man, and a fourth file was an image of what appeared to be a nude teenage girl, documents state.
FBI agents on Tuesday obtained a search warrant and confiscated three laptop computers, two iPhones, two thumb drives and numerous DVDs from Hostetler's home in the 7000 block of Nottingham Avenue, documents state.
Agents found several videos with minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct on the computer's hard drive, according to documents.
Marshals then went to a Chesterton fast food restaurant where Hostetler works and questioned him. Hostetler said he began accessing child pornography in the past eight months and "believes he has a demon inside him which makes him download child pornography," documents state.
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