Fresno sex offender arrested on child porn and molestation charges

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno man is in custody facing 12 charges related to child sexual abuse and child pornography. Cornelio Jimenez was arrested at a home in Central Fresno on Thursday, where investigators discovered three abused children and 800 pieces of child porn.

Sgt. Jeff Kerston of the Fresno County Sheriff's Department is part of the local Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He said, "These images are very disturbing. These images are pictures and videos of children even as young as 6 months being sexually abused by their perpetrators."

A tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped investigators trace those images to an Internet address coming from the house Jimenez was living in.

In addition to the more than 800 images of child pornography, investigators determined three children in the home had been victimized by Jimenez. Fresno Police Lt. Joe Gomez said, "There were three children at the residence, 7, 4 and 3, and they determined he had been molesting them."

It's believed Jimenez was distributing images of those and other children. But after Jimenez was taken away, the children were allowed to remain in the house. "There were other adults, his wife lived in the residence, the parents, or at least one parent of the children also lived in that residence. They had no knowledge the suspect was involved in these crimes," Gomez explained.

Jimenez was also charged with failing to register as a sex offender. He was officially listed as a transient, but police believe he had been living in the house for about a year.

Investigators are going through computers and other electronic equipment found in the home, and other arrests are possible.