Police in Southern California have busted the alleged proprietor of what may be the largest collection of child pornography in U.S. history, Reuters reported Friday.
Federal authorities say Michael Peterson, 58, had more than 500,000 images and 7,500 videos of suspected child porn on his computers, according to the wire service. He was charged in a three-count criminal complaint with possessing, receiving and distributing child pornography.
Federal agents discovered the alleged trove of child porn during a July raid on Peterson's home in Ontario, outside Los Angeles, where they seized his computers and hard drives.
"It's not uncommon for us to see collections of thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of images, but in this case we have over half a million images being stored on numerous devices," U.S. District Attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek said, according to Reuters. "It may in fact be the largest child pornography collection ever discovered in the United States."
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