The Mentone man arrested last week for possession of child pornography is facing additional charges.
David John Ellenberger, 35, of 5922 W. Wood Duck Drive, Mentone, is charged with child exploitation, a level 4 felony; child solicitation, a level 5 felony; three counts of possession of child pornography, level 5 felonies; two counts of child pornography, level 6 felonies; dissemination of matter harmful to minors, a level 6 felony; and inappropriate communication with a child, a class A misdemeanor.
Ellenberger was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail and booked at 12:28 p.m. Thursday on the preliminary charge of distributing/possession of child pornography. His initial bond was set at $15,250.
According to the probable cause affidavit, between July 1 and Dec. 1, an Indiana State Police detective received information that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip from Google and three cyber tips from Facebook, which were linked together through an association of a phone number and email address.
The cyber tip from Google reported a user updated 10 apparent images of child pornography. The images were categorized as prepubescent minor(s) engaged in sexual acts.
On Dec. 5, the ISP detective submitted preservation requests to Google and Facebook.
The detective went through 42 compressed files from a Google search warrant. There were allegedly 10 files that had children involved in sexual acts.
On Dec. 7, the detective went through files obtained from Facebook obtained through a search warrant. Some of the files that had been uploaded to the Facebook server included a Google map of a neighborhood in Mentone. There were images of Ellenberger in various states of nudity that exposed his genitals.
Records showed Ellenberger used alternate names and shared images of himself to children on Facebook and sent images of child sexual abuse material to children.
Ellenberger also had a conversation with a 12-year-old. Ellenberger allegedly asked the child for inappropriate pictures, which were never sent. Ellenberger did send an inappropriate picture to the child, according to court documents.
Ellenberger also allegedly shared two pictures of children, including one that appeared to be one under 12.
The ISP detective learned the cell phone number related to the cyber tips was an active account subscribed to by Ellenberger.
On Dec. 14, the detective talked with Ellenberger and located two cell phones he admitted belonged to him.
Ellenberger said he posed as a 16-year-old on social media and talked to children to test them. Ellenberger said he shared images and then deleted the images.
Ellenberger said he created and managed multiple Facebook accounts that were used to talk to adults and children. He also admitted to being in possession of at least four child pornographic images with one child under 4.
Ellenberger was previously convicted of child molesting in Steuben Superior Court on Nov. 19, 2014.