North Liberty man arrested on child pornography charges
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- On Thursday, December 8 detectives with the Indiana State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested 48-year-old Christopher Nicolini on charges of possession of child pornography.
The investigation into Nicolini began in January 2021 with a child pornography complaint from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
In August 2020, Google had contacted the NCMEC for apparent child pornography in their Google Photos and Gmail infrastructure.
The content was tied to email addresses and a phone number associated with Chris Nicolini, according to reports.
Between June and August of 2020, over 300 files were uploaded at different times, according to the probable cause affidavit.
After the initial tip, detectives found that Google reported another six cyber tips with the same user information.
In an eighth cyber tip, detectives found 13 file uploads.
An investigation into the email addresses associated with the tips linked them to Nicolini.
During the investigation, detectives discovered a Bremen Police Department investigation into child exploitation in 2018.
The IP address in the 2018 investigation is the exact same as the subscriber information in the current investigation, which is linked to Nicolini, detectives learned.
The IP address was linked to a home in North Liberty, so the investigation was turned over to St. Joseph County.
In September 2022, detectives learned Nicolini still lived at the address in North Liberty linked to the IP address, reports said.
On December 8, 2022, detectives executed a search warrant of the home.
Nicolini was cooperative with investigators and admitted to downloading and viewing child pornography, reports said.
A cell phone in Nicolini's possession also contained images of child pornography, according to detectives.
Nicolini was arrested and taken the St. Joseph County Jail for seven counts of Possession of Child Pornography and one count of Child Exploitation.
He is being held on a $30,000 cash bond.
His initial hearing is set for December 27.