A Westland man has been charged with felony child porn offenses after an anonymous tipster alerted authorities to his alleged behavior.
The FBI investigated Peter Caleb-Anthony Qaoud, who was born in 1996, after receiving an anonymous complaint in May, alleging that he was threatening and blackmailing people, including minors, on Snapchat and other social media apps.
The investigation showed that, in February, Qaoud had a conversation with a 16-year-old girl on Instagram, in which he requested and received explicit content, according to the complaint, filed Monday in Detroit’s federal court.
Agents obtained Qaoud’s phone number and used that to find his home address in Westland, the complaint said.
Online court records indicate that Qaoud appeared in court Monday before Magistrate Judge Kimberly G. Altman on charges including production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
He’s scheduled to return to court Wednesday for a detention hearing.
Production of child pornography, the most serious charge against him, is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Court records do not list an attorney for Qaoud.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan man charged with federal child porn offenses
Reporting by Max Reinhart, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Max Reinhart, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
