A Chester County man is facing charges after police say they uncovered child sexual exploitation material on his devices that included victims as young as infants.
The case came to light after at least one social media company filed a legally mandatory report of child sexual abuse material to devices that, upon investigation, were determined to be traced to Fox’s devices and his home address, police in West Whiteland said.
The suspect, 31-year-old Cody Fox, of West Chester, allegedly used easily traceable social media apps to download multiple images and videos that depict children being sexually assaulted by men and women. Victims as young as infants were in some cases restrained, taped and even hung upside down as the abuse occurs.
Cody Fox
“You can’t hide from us, your phone is attached to you,” said Det. Sgt. Jeff McCloskey.
“Things that were being done to these children was complete torture,” McCloskey added.
Police say the crimes in this case are sadly not new, and those behind the images and videos will make more to feed demand. However, police also say that specially trained officers are spending more time tracking down the content, who makes them and who downloads.
And, under U.S. law, internet and social media companies are required to report illegal activity when it comes to child sexual assault material to the Internet Task Force Against Children.
“It’s not harmless because there is someone being tortured or abused in these videos,” McCloskey said. “And then ‘Why is this person watching it? Do they want to do that to some other here where we live? Or our own children?'”
Fox was arrested at his home and evidence was seized by police.
Fox is facing 21 counts of child sexual abuse materials has posted his $100,000 bail, according to court documents.
“People need to be held accountable for these type of things,” McCloskey said.