Local law enforcement and members of the FBI raided a home in Jacksonville on Monday and arrested a man after a six-month investigation into his alleged possession and dissemination of child sex abuse material.
According to federal court records, Daniel R. Brannan, 47, of the 300 block of South Westgate Avenue was taken into custody by federal authorities at his home Monday morning. According to the complaint and warrant filed, Jacksonville Police detectives began investigating Brannan’s online activities after receiving a Cybertip from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office on June 3 that a profile on the freeware instant messaging application Kik was downloading and disseminating child sex abuse material. Kik is known for its features preserving users’ anonymity, such as allowing users to register without the need to provide a telephone number or valid email address. The platform has become increasingly used by child sex predators. Detectives were able to trace the Kik username to a residential IP address and Samsung phone through AT&T wireless use to accounts registered in Brannan’s name after federal search warrants were executed on Kik in October.
The federal complaint went into further explicit detail about Brannan’s trade of over 60 files of child sex abuse material between April 30 and May 1 of this year, with some depictions of children under the age of 12. During the course of his arrest, FBI agents located and seized Brannan’s Samsung phone as well as a laptop and several storage devices that contained the material. Brannan is also said to have admitted trading the material over several years and did not avoid questioning during the arrest, according to the federal complaint filed on Tuesday.
At a hearing in Springfield yesterday, Brannan was ordered detained by the court but no further scheduling of court dates were posted as of press time. Brannan remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s service.