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BETHESDA, Md. - A Bethesda man has been charged with several counts of possession of child pornography, according to documents released by the District Court of Maryland.
David Edelstein, 41, was taken into custody on July 6 on 12 charges of possession and distribution of child pornography.
According to a police report, while investigating suspects sharing child pornography on the website BitTorrent in December 2022, detectives identified an IP address connected to the download of at least 24 files. The address was also determined to be a potential source of at least two videos made available for distribution.
Detectives tracked the IP address back to a device owned by Edelstein where they found the downloaded images and videos that displayed the genitals of two pre-pubescent girls, court documents say. Upon further investigation, more than 1,000 additional child pornography images were found on Edelstein's device.
BitTorrent is a popular peer-to-peer content sharing website.
Just last month, a well-known gymnastics photographer was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography following a similar investigation. Detectives found that David Yellen transferred the sexual abuse images via BitTorrent and using the IP address, tracked him down to his home where he was arrested after police discovered hundreds more images.
Edelstein was later arrested and charged. His first court appearance occurred on July 10.