Columbus man found with thousands of photos of underage children on computer, police say

A Columbus man faces 10 charges of possession of child pornography after police discovered he had thousands of photos of children in various stages of undress on his home computer, according to testimony Friday in Recorder’s Court.

Earlier this year, Microsoft alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about possible child pornography on a user’s account. The Center shared the tip with the Columbus Police Department in May and investigators traced the images to an IP address used by Luis Rodriguez-Cruz, 54, Det. Mark Scruggs testified.

Police obtained search warrants for both Rodriguez-Cruz’s Microsoft account and his home in order to investigate further, Scruggs said.

Police conducted a search warrant on August 13 at Rodriguez-Cruz’s house. Family members greeted police at the home, according to Scruggs, and Rodriguez-Cruz arrived shortly after the officers. He showed them his computer, which investigators discovered housed the images that Microsoft told the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about, Scruggs said.

Officers found thousands of photos of child pornography on the computer, Scruggs said. Some of the photos pictured children, boys and girls, as young as 2 years old. Some photos showed the children engaging in sexual activities and in stages of undressing.

“In that cyber tip, I was provided images that I can honestly say were known child pornography images to the (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children),” Scruggs testified.

Judge Julius Hunter bound the case over to Superior Court with no bond.

Scruggs added that additional charges against Rodriguez-Cruz are likely to be filed as other law enforcement agencies identify more children in the pictures.