PEORIA, Ill. (WAND) - An Urbana man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on child pornography charges.Â
Before the investigation into 32-year-old Brandon M. Knoff, Urbana police received five separate Cybertip referrals. According to a press release from prosecutors, three different social media and cloud storage applications reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an online social media user had transmitted content believed to be child pornography onto their servers. Prosecutors said the user's internet addresses were connected to Knoff and included his Urbana home address.Â
The NCMEC referral was reported to the Illinois Attorney General's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force and was then referred to Urbana police. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations and the Urbana Police Department.
Knoff had previously been arrested by criminal complaint on July 27, 2021. He remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since the time of his arrest.
Should Knoff be convicted, the offense of transportation of child pornography (two counts) carries a statutory penalty of at least five to 20 years in prison. For possession of child pornography, Knoff would face up to 10 years behind bars.Â
