Crime & Safety
Desert Child Porn-Distribution Suspect Arrested After Warrant Search
A 19-year-old Desert Hot Springs man is thought to have circulated 600 sexually explicit child photos. He is being held on $300,000 bail.
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA — A Desert Hot Springs man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possessing and disseminating child sex abuse material on the internet.
Pedro Alfredo Elizalde is accused of possessing or disseminating more than 600 such images, including some with themes of sadism and masochism, according to Christopher Saucier of the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.
Saucier said police detectives and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office Child Exploitation Team investigated the alleged online exploitation of children by a suspect in Desert Hot Springs.
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After authoring various search warrants, detectives identified Elizalde as the suspect, Saucier said.
He was arrested in Banning on Tuesday morning and was taken back to his residence in Desert Hot Springs where detectives executed a search warrant.
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Elizalde was subsequently booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio, where he was being held on $300,000 bail.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact the police department at 760-329-2904 or the Valley Crime Stoppers anonymously at 760- 341-7867 (STOP).
