Silver Spring man arrested for sending child pornography to undercover agent

The FBI-MPD Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force arrested a Silver Spring, Maryland, man in D.C. Friday on charges of distributing child pornography on social media.

In an indictment released Friday, 20-year-old Joseph Ruben Baer was charged with one count of distribution of child pornography.

The task force says it monitored a social media app because it believed pedophiles were using it.

According to the Justice Department, an undercover agent monitoring the app began communicating with Baer on April 18. Baer “expressed an interest in the sexual exploitation of prepubescent boys” and later sent the agent two video files through the app that showed him “masturbating” while watching child pornography on a laptop.”

Days later, on April 25, a federal grand jury indicted Baer.

The task force executed a search warrant Friday at two Silver Spring residences linked to Baer, ​​but he was picked up in the county.

Baer appeared in court for the first time later that day. He is being held without bond.

The case remains under investigation. This is being pursued as part of the Safe Childhood Project, launched by the Ministry of Justice in May 2006. Project Safe Childhood is a national strategy to combat child sexual exploitation.

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