A Simi Valley teenager faces nearly two dozen felony charges for allegedly using a minor for sexual acts and possessing more than 600 images depicting the sexual exploitation of children and babies, authorities said Friday.
The 17-year-old was arrested Tuesday after the FBI served a search warrant at the boy's home, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
That search and arrest followed an investigation the district attorney's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Unit launched in August after receiving multiple tips about the mass distribution of child pornography online, prosecutors said.
According to authorities, the teen is currently detained at the Ventura County Juvenile Facility in Oxnard and faces 15 felony counts of using a minor for sexual acts and seven felony counts related to possession and distribution of child pornography.
The minor also faces two special charges for possession of more than 600 images of child sexual abuse material, as well as images depicting sadomasochistic acts, according to authorities.
The juvenile, whose name was not released, had an initial court appearance Thursday and is due back for a pretrial conference on Dec. 31.
The Simi Valley Police Department and the Ventura County High Tech Task Force assisted the FBI in serving the search warrant.
