New York police have arrested Justin Heath Smith, better known in the pornography industry as Austin Wolf. According to federal authorities, the actor is accused of sharing and distributing pornographic material in which minors appear.
His way of doing this is through Telegram, a messaging application in which he would have passed “hundreds of videos” to other users.
Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release that “our investigation into Smith is ongoing, and we urge anyone with information about his conduct to call the FBI.”
On the other hand, James Smith, assistant director of the FBI in New York, revealed on NBC New York that this content is very sensitive, including images of young children, rape and other hard-to-imagine content.
“I want to make this clear: those who distribute images of child sexual abuse prey on the most vulnerable in our society. Every image is a crime scene, and it leaves lasting scars on innocent victims,” James Smith stressed in statements to the aforementioned media outlet.
The investigation began months ago
The investigation dates back to March of this year. An FBI agent, who used a fake profile to communicate with Austin Wolf, begins to set up a plan. In these conversations, despite the actor’s account being anonymous on Telegram, he ended up revealing his identity as the days went by.
In late April, the FBI searched Wolf’s Manhattan apartment. What they found was crucial to the investigation: an SD card on which there is underage pornographic material. Now, once arrested, he faces a sentence of five to 20 years in prison.