Man Suspected of Distributing Child Porn on Internet Arrested

HUNTINGTON BEACH — A 41-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of distributing child pornography over the Internet from his Garden Grove apartment, Huntington Beach police said Saturday.

During the department’s routine investigations of cyberspace activities, vice detectives discovered John Michael Foutch was displaying and sending child pornography via the Internet, Lt. Jon Arnold said.

“Because of what’s being made accessible over the Internet and people’s ability to remain anonymous, our detectives regularly monitor and look for child pornographers, pedophiles or people who are victimizing young people,” Arnold said.

Foutch was arrested Friday at 7:45 p.m. without incident at his home in the 12500 block of Shelly Drive, Arnold said.

The investigation began Wednesday when a vice detective made contact with Foutch in a chat room on the Internet. After exchanging computer messages, the detective determined that Foutch was interested in distributing and receiving child pornography, police said.

Foutch then sent pictures of young children being sexually abused over the Internet to the detective, Arnold said. Investigators traced the pictures to Foutch’s apartment.

A search warrant was served Friday and police seized additional evidence. Arnold would not say what kind of property was seized.