BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A Bellingham man was arrested as part of an investigation into a child pornography ring.
Court documents state that investigators were first tipped off in March of 2020 to sexually explicit files uploaded to DropBox.
Over the course of the next two years, undercover agents were able to trace the files back to 21-year-old Joshua Hayes of Bellingham.
A search warrant was carried out at Hayes’ residence in March of this year.
Hayes denied being in possession of child pornography, but admitted to visiting chatrooms to view adult content.
Analysis of electronics seized from the home uncovered thousands of videos and images of child sexual exploitation, many of which were shared to others by Hayes himself.
Hayes was taken into custody on June 2nd.