Bristol Police have arrested a youth group leader from a Plainville church man after finding more than 500 images and 13 videos of child pornography on his computer.
Jonathan Spann, 28, of Bristol, appeared in court on Thursday to face an illegal possession of child pornography charge and has been ordered to have no contact with anyone under the age of 16. He is also prohibited from using a computer.
Police started investigating in February 2012 after a special agent from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Hartford called local police about a local IP address accessing a child pornography Web site, according to an arrest warrant application.
When police seized Spann’s computer, they recovered around 3,000 images of child porn from “unallocated space” on hard drives, indicating that the files had been deleted, according to police.
Police returned to Spann’s home in December 2012 for more evidence and Spann admitted that he was responsible for downloading and possessing child pornography on the computers that were seized and said he wanted to take responsibility, according to court documents.
Spann told police that he downloaded thousands of images and videos depicting child porn over a period of seven years, especially pornography of young boys with adult men, according to court documents.
“Information has come forward since then that he was involved in a youth group in his church in Plainville,” Lt. Donn Watson, of the Bristol Police Department, said.
Spann is affiliated with New Life Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Plainville. His current role with the church is unclear. NBC Connecticut has contacted the church, but has not received a call back.
Spann expressed remorse and told police that he often becomes disgusted with his behavior, so he rarely saves the images, and hopes to get help for his problem.
According to court documents, Spann’s wife told police that she recalled one concerning incident about four years earlier when she found an inappropriate cell phone photo of a young boy, spoke with her husband about it, they worked through their issues and she was unaware of any further incidents.
Police said Spann turned himself in to Bristol Police because of an outstanding warrant for his arrest on April 22. He was held on $20,000 bond and appeared in court on April 22.
On Thursday, he walked out of Bristol Superior Court, holding his wife's hand and had no comment on the case.
Spann is next due in court on May 23.
Photo Credit: Bristol, Connecticut Police