A Texas man who was being investigated for child pornography is facing charges in Chattanooga Federal Court.
Authorities said John Ledsinger had moved here and was living with a woman and her seven-year-old daughter.
The complaint says authorities in Midland, Tex., received a report of child exploitation on Jan. 22. They said a user was uploading images of child pornography onto a foreign image-hosting
website.
Midland special agents viewed three images depicting young girls in sexually provocative poses.
The complaint says the man also set up an email account in which he said in his profile "love any young girl 2-11 mmmm they tum me on."
Agents were able to find that the account was registered to 24-year-old John Ledsinger at an address in north Midland, Tex. It was found he resided there between May and November 2013.
On March 16, Midland special agents interviewed Ledsinger's wife, who is estranged from him at the present time, and his mother-in-law. Both women previously resided at the same north Midland residence with Ledsinger.
During the interview, Ledsinger's wife told agents that she saw him use two laptop computers in the home. She also told agents that he had access to an Apple laptop computer, but she was not aware if he used it. One of the two laptop computers belonged to Ledsinger's mother-in-law. The other laptop computer belonged to Ledsinger.
Ledsinger's wife told the agents that he hid his laptop computer under the bed when he was not using it. She also told the agents that he took his laptop computer with him when they separated.
She said she saw Ledsinger access the foreign website. She said when she asked him about it, he told her that it was a place to look at cars on the Internet.
Ledsinger's wife also told agents that she saw him looking at images of what appeared to be child pornography on his e-mail account. When she asked him about the images, he explained that the girls were all of legal age and were dressed up to look like underage girls.
Ledsinger's wife told agents that he separated from her and moved to Alabama with his biological aunt who lives in Huntsville. She said Ledsinger was adopted at an early age, but has since made contact with his biological aunt.
Ledsinger's mother-in-law gave agents consent to search her laptop computer that was used by him on multiple occasions. During a forensic analysis of the computer, special agents were able to identify some images of child pornography.
Last Thursday, Ledsinger's wife provided information indicating that he recently moved to Tennessee "and is currently residing with an adult female and her seven-year-old daughter."
Ledsinger, who made an initial appearance before Federal Magistrate Bill Carter, is charged with distribution of child pornography.