HONOLULU—A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging Derek M. West, 32, a resident of Waipahu, Hawaii, with three counts of producing child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography. West was arraigned following the indictment and pled not guilty before Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang, who ordered West detained without bail pending trial, scheduled for February 17, 2015 before District Judge Derrick K. Watson.

Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that according to a complaint and affidavit signed on December 16, 2014, the case began with a report to the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) that child pornography had been found on West’s cellular telephone. The affidavit alleges HPD detectives obtained a search warrant for the telephone, and found approximately 482 images that depicted children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including a two year-old engaged in a sexual act with a person identified as West. HPD detectives then contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) because some images were found in a computer application based in Canada. West was arrested on December 16, 2014 by FBI agents and HPD officers.

If convicted of the charges in the indictment, West faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years as to each of the three production of child pornography counts, and up to ten years as to the possession of child pornography count. The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and West is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The arrest and charges resulted from a joint investigation conducted by the HPD, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong.