Child porn case, Milwaukee man had thousands of images: complaint

Child porn case, thousands of images found

A Milwaukee?man is charged with four counts of child pornography possession. Prosecutors said he had more than 17,000 images of child porn on his devices.

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man is charged with four counts of child pornography possession.

Prosecutors say 28-year-old Sambit Bandyopadhyay had more than 17,000 images of child pornography on his devices.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee police began an investigation on Aug. 1 after receiving a website security alert linked to Bandyopadhyay's UWM account but on a personal device. 

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A criminal complaint states police went to Bandyopadhyay's home, and he gave permission for them to search his laptop, phone and external hard drive. He said he "downloaded something big earlier," but did not know what it was. Agents found "thousands of images of child pornography" and "around 70 videos."

Officers arrested Bandyopadhyay. In a Mirandized interview, the complaint states Bandyopadhyay claimed he was unaware of the 17,000-plus images, but admitted he had child pornography on the external hard drive – which he said he got "second hand."

Bandyopadhyay made his initial court appearance Aug. 11. His cash bond was set at $1,000.

In a statement to FOX6 News, UWM said:

UWM is aware of the arrest of Sambit Bandyopadhyay, a UWM graduate student. He is not a UWM employee. Based on FERPA, a federal law that protects the privacy of student records, UWM cannot disclose further information about Bandyopadhyay.

UWM condemns, in the strongest possible terms, any criminal acts that endanger the safety and welfare of children.