Cherokee County Sheriff's deputies made what they said may be the largest child pornography seizure in the department's history Thursday, when they arrested a man who allegedly had 100,000 files of porn on his computer.
The seizure occurred during Operation Save, a county-wide sweep to ensure sex offenders had not changed their addresses without notice.
"During the operation, officers verified 176 address and discovered 2 offenders have moved without informing the sheriff's office," sheriff's Capt. Joe Perkins said in a statement. "The remaining addresses will be verified over the next few days."
But the arrest of a man accused of possessing child pornography was perhaps the most significant result of the sweep.
"In conjunction with verifying these sex offenders, we executed a search warrant on an individual who is not currently a sex offender, and seized a large amount of child porn," according to sheriff's Lt. Howard Baker.
Sheriff's officials identified the suspect as Richard Ensley, 37. His stash of child porn included 100,000 electronic files, authorities said.
"This could possibly be the largest seizure of child pornography in Cherokee County to date," Perkins said. "The children depicted in the videos and still photos ranged in age from infants to 15-16 [years old] -- all female children."
Ensley was charged with 25 counts of sexual exploitation of a child, and more charges are expected, the department said.
The Canton, Woodstock and Holly Springs police departments and Georgia Department of Corrections Probation and Parole Divisions assisted in the county-wide sweep.
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