A police officer with the small town of Henagar was arrested on Thursday for child porn possession after a joint effort by state, local and federal law enforcement.
Joshua Kwon, 40, was arrested and charged with the public dissemination and possession of obscene material of a person under 17. According to court records, the material was a video of an adult man having sexual contact with a minor female.
The investigation began after a DeKalb County investigator assigned to the Alabama Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding a social media account that was used to share child pornography.
DeKalb County Investigators and Special Response Team, along with ALEA, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Homeland Security executed a search warrant at a Jackson County residence Thursday morning. After obtaining new information, Kwon was identified as another potential suspect in the case. They then discovered that Kwon was a police officer with the town of Henagar.
Kwon was arrested and interviewed on Thursday. He was then booked into the DeKalb County Jail on a $30,000 bond.
"It is a sad day for law enforcement," said DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden. "Chief Smith at Henagar is a great guy and always willing to help in any way, even in times like this when it's his own officer. I know that this very hard for Chief Smith because I've been there myself, unfortunately. Once again, right is still right and wrong is still wrong no matter what! If you're in the wrong, we will do our best to enforce the law no matter who you are! And I hope this strongly shows that we will do so if it has happened in DeKalb County!"
"With that being said, there are still GREAT leaders in law enforcement [we] do not tolerate such disgraceful acts as this even though it still gives us ALL a black eye. I'll still say it was a Fantastic job by ALEA, our very own DCSO Investigation Unit, Chief Smith, and all the others that were involved in the process," he added.
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