Local man arrested in child pornography possession case

Bloomington police responded to the Monroe County Public Library, 303 W. Kirkwood Ave., Monday morning after receiving a call about a man viewing child pornography on a library computer.

Paul A. Decker, 25, who lives on the 1000 block of Country Club Drive, admitted to police he had been downloading nude photographs of young boys from a website to a flash drive.

Bloomington Police Department Detective Sgt. John Kovach said a library security guard stumbled upon Decker while Decker had images active on the browser.

When the guard observed the material was of child pornography, he asked the man to step away from the computer and report to the security desk, Kovach said.

Police arrived and transported Decker to the police station, where he was questioned by investigators.

Kovach said Decker told police that because he does not have Internet access at his home, he has been resorting to the library computers to manage the child porn collection and transfer the content to a flash drive so he may view it on his personal computer.

The case is still being actively investigated by Bloomington police.

In the meantime, Decker faces preliminary charges of child exploitation and possession of child pornography.

Authorities seized Decker’s computer, flash drive and cell phone.

Currently, the computer is undergoing forensic analysis to further determine how many pictures there are, Kovach said.