A West Virginia man accused of possessing child sexual abuse material with the online name “MrChildPorn” has been arrested after dozens of cyber-tip reports were made to the police. Garrett Michael Highlander was arrested last Friday after West Virginia State Police searched a Morgantown residence, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Newsweek. He faces a felony charge of possessing material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
The investigation began with 48 cyber-tip reports sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators said the reports pointed to a Discord user who claimed to have a large collection of child sexual abuse material and used names including “MrToxix” and, in one instance, “MrChildPorn.” Police said they traced the account to Highlander and found conversations in which the user allegedly claimed to have the material, offered to send it to others and tried to trade it. During an interview, Highlander allegedly dismissed the comments as “trolling” and “rage baiting,” telling investigators he made them because he thought it was “highly amusing.” Highlander is a 20-year-old resident of Morgantown, West Virginia.
The criminal complaint lists his full name as Garrett Michael Highlander and gives his date of birth as June 28, 2006. Few other personal details about Highlander have been made public. The complaint does not identify his occupation, education or any previous criminal history.
It says investigators searched a residence associated with him in Morgantown before taking him into custody. Highlander was being held at North Central Regional Jail on a $100,000 bond following his arrest, according to online booking records cited by People. The facility serves Monongalia County, where the charge was filed.
Investigators alleged that Highlander used Discord’s artificial intelligence chatbot to search for sexually explicit material involving infants. The complaint says he entered graphic search terms involving babies and repeatedly asked other users whether they would trade child sexual abuse material with him. Highlander also allegedly told police that he had belonged to online servers where young girls, some of whom he knew were younger than 18, were groomed or encouraged to harm themselves.
He denied participating in that conduct, according to the filing. While executing the search warrant, an officer reviewed one of Highlander’s phones and allegedly found multiple nude images and an approximately 32-second sexually explicit video of the same girl. The complaint described her as an “apparent prepubescent female” while also estimating that she was between 15 and 17 years old.
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