Child porn link sent to employee’s cell phone

Employees of the Shortstop Food Mart are currently cooperating with investigators of the Bloomington Police Department in regard to an incident that sparked the termination of one of its employees.

Shortstop Food Mart Owner Chris Smith said one of his employees received a text message including a hyperlink to child pornography from a fellow employee. The employee who received the message immediately brought it to the attention of Smith.

Subsequently, Smith said he fired the employee responsible for sending the text message. Smith said the matter was immediately brought to the attention of authorities, referring to the rate in which he and his staff dealt with the situation as “fast and furious.”

“I have a couple of managers that have work phones so I can reach them after hours if it’s an emergency,” he said. “Given how the world has been in the last year, and you can interpret that how you want, this needed to be dealt with immediately.”

Bloomington police were called at about 2:48 p.m. Aug. 14 to the barbecue eatery at 901 N. Smith Road.

Detective Sgt. John Kovach said the case may very well be out of their jurisdiction down the road, especially if the link has international origins.

“Let’s say there’s a guy or girl here in Bloomington that’s disseminating child pornography, and that’s where we would (assume enforcement),” he said.

The case is currently ongoing and under investigation.

Smith said he believes the case is an isolated incident.