Quoted from cdnpinballer:@ manimal, I hear what you're saying. Maybe I misunderstand the 2 count charges thing. How can someone be charged with 2 counts of CP for only possession? Like did he have 2 hard drives with CP on it or do the cops lay 2 charges of CP where one is for possession and the other is for some other CP related offense like solicitation, distribution etc...
Note - somehow my electronic device won't let me quote so I do the @ thing... sorry
He was charged with 2 counts of "possession of child pornography in video form"....which I would take to mean they found at least 2 videos on his computer. More serious charges would be if you were trafficking, or producing it. Child porn is not an offense you charge, it is an object. What you do with it is the chargeable offense. In Jared's case, he was a party to the production of the video and he knowingly received and possessed it. He also traveled to actually meet underage folks.
If I had to guess....and this is ONLY a guess.....I would say someone tipped off the cops to something JT was doing or had said, or possibly they were investigating someone that made or distributed the porn and found some link to JT on that person's computer. Remember, the press release said this discovery was part of an ongoing investigation. So with law enforcement being tipped off, they either went looking for the videos he may have downloaded from this other party, or more likely they set up a sting operation to try and get him to bite and download videos from them as they were posing as a bad guy. Once he does, they get a warrant to go and look for those 2 specific videos on his PC, and once they find them, they can seize the computer and easily lay charges. This process saves a lot of time because you go right to the home as soon as he does the download, so there is no time to hide the files or remove a hard drive, hide a laptop in the attic, etc. The cops know what to look for and exactly where to look to get them the arrest, and then they get another warrant for the computer hard drive and see what else they can find later. If they find another 100 photos, the prosecutor can file those charges, OR more likely he goes to the perp and tells him if he pleads guilty to the 2 already filed charges and takes his punishment, he will not file the additional charges. Most sentencing runs concurrent, so stacking the charges won't give him much more time anyway, IF all he did was to possess. So end result, the perp pleads guilty and gets probation and counseling for a 1st offense, and the prosecutor gets a conviction and the county does not have to foot the bill for a trial. Unless this thing turns into something much bigger, it is very possible he will see very little if any jail time. Even if they sentence him to 5 years, he would serve less than 1.