San Marino man accused of possession of child pornography

SAN MARINO — A San Marino man already convicted of using a hidden camera to take photos up the skirts of unsuspecting women was behind bars again Wednesday, accused of possessing images of child pornography.
Police arrested Justin Kerong Chen, 18, Tuesday while serving a search warrant at his home, San Marino police officials said in a written statement.
He remained jailed Wednesday at the Alhambra Police Department’s jail in lieu of $20,000 bail pending a scheduled arraignment Thursday in Alhambra Superior Court, according to county booking records.
San Marino police began investigating Chen in connection with child pornography after information was developed while investigating him for different crimes earlier this year, San Marino police Detective Susana Franco said.
He was arrested in March after police found him in possession of burglary tools, as well as a “covert camera” which he had been using to take surreptitious photographs up women’s skirts in public, the detective said.
“Follow-up investigation led detectives to Chen’s residence, where, with the assistance of the South Pasadena Police Department, a search warrant was executed without incident,” San Marino police officials said in a written statement.
Chen was convicted of possession of burglary tools and electronic peeping with a camera and sentenced to three years of summary probation in June, Franco said.
As detectives investigated Chen and built a case against him for the electronic peeping case, they discovered that he had images of child pornography on his computer, the detective said.
They obtained a search warrant from a judge and arrived at Chen’s home shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday in search of additional images, Franco said.
“Several” images were recovered from Chen’s computer and other electronic media involving “younger” children, she added. Investigators had no information to indicate Chen was involved in the creation of any of the images.
Chen was booked on suspicion of possession of child pornography.
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