Bernard Charles Kirchoff Jr. 69, was arraigned Tuesday in St. Clair County District Court on charges of child sexually abusive activity
A 69-year-old Marysville man is facing additional charges related to the alleged production of child sexually abusive materials.
Bernard Charles Kirchoff Jr. was arraigned Tuesday in St. Clair County District Court on charges of child sexually abusive activity, using a computer to commit a crime and distributing or promoting child sexually abusive commercial activity.
“What he was charged with was possession initially,” said Paul Soderberg, assistant St. Clair County prosecuting attorney. “Now we have added charges related to the production of child pornography.”
Kirchoff was arraigned Feb. 15 on six charges of child sexually abusive material and six charges of using a computer to commit a crime.
He was arrested by Marysville police on Feb. 12 after he had brought his computer to a business for repair and the repair person allegedly found child pornography on the computer.
Officers obtained a search warrant for his Marysville home and removed about 50 storage devices such as thumb drives and flash drives, according to Marysville police.
Soderberg said he could not go into details about the investigation.
“It does involve an investigation with the Marysville Police Department and the Marysville Police Department has been in contact with other agencies including the FBI and agencies in other jurisdictions outside of St. Clair and inside St. Clair County,” he said.
Marysville Deputy Chief Ron Buckmaster said the investigation is ongoing and „we are looking at more charges against Kirchoff as well as other people.“
A preliminary exam has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. March 6 in front of District Judge John Monaghan.
Kirchoff is being housed at the St. Clair County jail. Bond has been set at $75,000. If Kirchoff is released on bond, he must surrender his passport to the district court or to the county sheriff department.
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