Man in child porn investigation pleads innocent

WARREN — Charles Bruner, 26, of Berkshire Drive Southeast, has pleaded innocent to 20 felony counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor.

Bruner was secretly indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury, after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division and Warren police. The investigation is part of the DHS’s Operation Predator.

Judge Peter Kontos, of the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, arraigned Bruner earlier this week and set bail at $25,000. Bruner remains in Trumbull County Jail. If convicted, Bruner could be sentenced to two to eight years in prison on each count. According to a DHS Web site, the operation was created in 2003 to identify child predators, identify children depicted in child pornography to help rescue them and assist in prosecuting the people responsible for making and distributing the pornographic material.

Mike Burnett, assistant county prosecutor, said a computer was taken from Bruner’s apartment based on a search warrant, and the computer contained images of child pornography.

Burnett said Homeland Security officials allege that Bruner was participating in an online file sharing group this spring that involved online users viewing and sharing images depicting child pornography.

Burnett said it appears that Bruner downloaded the photos from the Internet and that the pictures did not show local children.