By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — A 35-year-old Wausau man is accused of downloading hundreds of child pornography images to his computer and sharing them with others through a file sharing network.
Jason R. Alsteen faces 20 counts of possession of child pornography filed May 24 in Marathon County Circuit Court. A year-long investigation revealed Alsteen had at least 252 files of child pornography on his computer, some of which showed images of toddlers being sexually assaulted by adult men, according to the criminal complaint. The videos and photos were being shared through a peer to peer file sharing network, police said.
The investigation was first launched in May 2016, when police traced the images to an IP address at a home where Alsteen was living. In July, police searched the home, where they found the computers storing and sharing the files.
Alsteen initially denied having any child pornography on his computer, then said the images were accidentally downloaded, according to the police report. But investigators said the images were downloaded using defined search terms, then were placed into a folder for sharing with other users around the world.
Alsteen is not currently in custody but is expected to make an initial court appearance in the coming days. He faces up to 500 years in prison if he is convicted on all charges.
