Apr 6, 2019 3 min read

Following a tip from a social networking website, the state attorney general’s office said it traced the uploading of child pornography to a home in Centerville.

Agents with the attorney general’s office executed a search warrant Thursday morning at 214 Malden Road, where they seized Jonathan Andrew Hoover’s MacBook, which they said contained 16 picture and video files of child pornography.

Hoover, 20, was arrested and now faces 16 felony charges for possession of the illicit material, as well as a felony charge for criminal use of a communication facility.

According to the criminal complaint, authorities opened cases in March based on two reports Tumblr made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

On July 15, 2018, and Aug. 12, 2018, images of child pornography were uploaded to Tumblr from the same IP address.

The complaint states Hoover admitted to using the emails linked to the accounts uploading the images. He said after his first account, greencow9299, was locked by Tumblr, he created greencow92997.

The materials uploaded to Tumblr and found on Hoover’s computer were detailed in the complaint. It describes them as showing girls as young as 4 to 6 years old being abused and raped.

Tumblr did not respond to emailed questions prior to deadline.

The attorney general’s office said it was able to trace the accounts back to Hoover’s residence after issuing a subpoena to Atlantic Broadband, which provided the account information associated with the IP address.

When agents asked Hoover if he knew why they were searching his residence, he responded “that he thought he knew why we were there,” the complaint states.

According to the complaint, Hoover willingly spoke with agents after he was advised of his legal rights.

He allegedly admitted to looking at and downloading child pornography in the past year, and suggested that he had done so with the intention of getting arrested.

“(Hoover) indicated that he had been depressed and overwhelmed in life and wanted to get caught with child pornography so he could disappear. Furthermore, so people would leave him alone,” the complaint states.

Investigators said Hoover told them he had downloaded the materials from the “deep web” and Tumblr, and reiterated that he had done so with the purpose of getting caught. He provided agents with a written statement following the interview, according to the complaint.

Hoover was arraigned before District Judge Joshua Kanalis Thursday afternoon, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. April 24 before Kanalis. Hoover was released from Washington County Jail after posting his $50,000 monetary bond through a professional bondsman.

Online court documents initially indicated that Hoover would be represented by the Washington County Public Defenders Office. However, Chief Public Defender Glenn Alterio said the office will not be representing Hoover. Deputy Attorney General Jessel August Costa is prosecuting the case on behalf of the state.