Chico native linked to child porn

A former Chico resident was arrested earlier this week on federal charges stemming from the seizure of his old computer hard drive filled with child pornography.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation detained Amado Nicholas Hernandez on Sunday (Jan. 2), according to the San Diego Union Tribune. He was taken into custody at the Port of San Diego as he arrived on a cruise ship. The 31-year-old reportedly is an employee of the ship, the Celebrity Constellation, and had just returned from a trip to the Panama Canal.

FBI officials linked Hernandez to the pornographic images contained on his old computer, which had come from at an estate sale in Chico. A technician who ended up with the machine repaired it and found the images. He alerted law-enforcement officials, who found 450 photos and 250 video files of child porn taken of 44 victims.

Hernandez reportedly had bragged in online chats that he had bought young boys in Mexico for sex.