For the second time this week, cops served a warrant on a child-pornography suspect and allegedly found pictures and videos of naked kids mid-download on their computer.
On Thursday, police arrested 61-year-old William Kenneth Stewart of West Palm Beach as part of the ongoing operation by the Palm Beach County Sexual Predator Enforcement Unit, according to the State Attorney's Office.
Just like with the previous cases, the cops found the IP address of Stewart over a peer-to-peer network, and looked at what he'd downloaded.
The first file allegedly on Stewart's computer was a video of an 11-year-old girl being sexually abused, according to an arrest affidavit, which was plenty for the cops to serve a search warrant at his home.
And just like in case last Thursday -- that one with Claudio Vidal -- the cops allegedly found Stewart's computer on and in the process of downloading more kiddie porn, according to the report.
A detective who analyzed the computer at the scene found more than 100 images and videos depicting child pornography, police say.
Stewart -- who told police he's an engineer with a Ph.D. -- was arrested wearing what appears to be a South Florida Water Management District t-shirt, although the agency's media-relations crew didn't return our call to verify whether he's their former chief scientist in West Palm Beach.
At his first court hearing, a judge set Stewart's bond at $20,000 on each of the 53 kiddie-porn related charges, for a total of $1.06 million.
Stewart's bond conditions also include house arrest, no computer or
internet access, no contact with minors, and he must surrender his
passport. As of Saturday evening, he's staying in jail instead.
If convicted on all counts, Stewart could face a maximum sentence of 765 years in prison.
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