TEXARKANA, Texas — An East Texas man is behind bars after allegedly being caught with more than 50 items of child pornography.
According to the Texarkana Texas Police Department, Trenton Weddel,20, was taken into custody after a search warrant was executed at his apartment in the 4600 block of Summerhill Rd. on Thursday, Sept. 12.
"Weddel first came to our attention earlier this month after we received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children," the TTPD said. "They told us that a popular social media application had notified them that someone had used an IP address in Texarkana, Texas to upload a pornographic video of a young girl. Within a few days, Detective Casey Schimdt was able to identify Weddel as the owner of both the social media account and IP address in the tip. He then found numerous videos and pictures of child pornography on Weddel's account and obtained a warrant for his arrest. Detectives located Weddel at his apartment on Thursday morning and arrested him. We then served a search warrant to locate any electronic devices or digital storage devices inside the apartment that could contain evidence of child pornography."
Weddel was booked into the Bi-State Jail on $200,000 bond.
"Based upon information that we received during this investigation, we know that children in the complex were routinely seen going into Weddel's apartment."" the TTPD said. "While there's no direct evidence at this point that any of them were victimized, we are obviously concerned that something inappropriate might have happened. If you suspect that your child was ever in Weddel's apartment, please reach out to Detective Schmidt at 903-798-3116."