A 24-year-old Owensboro man has been arrested for charges related to child porn, according to the Owensboro Police Department. The person was taken into custody on Wednesday after he appeared in court for similar charges related to child porn stemming from an arrest in 2020 by the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office.
According to OPD, an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) investigation was opened by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding child sexual abuse material.
OPD’s investigation led to the identification of Cameron Braden as the suspect, according to the release. Detectives executed a search warrant at Braden’s residence Wednesday morning.
Braden was taken into custody at the Daviess County Judicial Center after a court appearance unrelated to this investigation. He was lodged at the Daviess County Detention Center on the following charges, according to OPD:
- Distribution of Matter Portraying a Sexual Performance by a Minor under 12 years of age (4 counts)
- Possession of Matter Portraying a Sexual Performance by a Minor under 12 years of age (4 counts)
- Procuring or Promoting the Use of a Minor by Electronic Means
According to the citation obtained by Owensboro Times, the OPD detective was assigned the investigation on September 16.
The citation says the investigation involved “four sexually explicit videos of juveniles that were reported through NCMEC that originated from MediaLab/Kik … These four videos displayed prepubescent male juveniles in various sexual poses and activities and were uploaded on the Kik app on July 1, 2024.”
Multiple search warrants resulted in the identification of Braden based upon Kik information, Apple Information, AT&T Information, Yahoo Information, IP Addresses, and utilities information, reports show.
“The return from the Kik search warrant included the images reported to NCMEC. Also included in the return were message[s] sent … to another subject who had identified himself as a 14-year-old. The messages were of a sexual nature and were requesting the juvenile send videos of himself in sexual explicit poses,” the citation reads.
OT also obtained records of previous charges against Braden.
A citation shows that on November 27, he was charged with indecent exposure for an indecent at a Marathon gas station on West Parrish Avenue. According to the report, an officer reviewed camera footage that showed Braden enter the store in a blue bathrobe and expose his genitals twice to the cashier working behind the counter.
Court records show Braden is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in both OPD investigations on December 6.
Braden was in court Wednesday for a DCSO investigation that resulted in similar charges related to child porn in 2020. Court records show those charges included:
- Promoting Sex Performance By A Minor Under 16 Years Of Age
- Poss/View Matter Portray Sexual Performance By Minor (9 counts)
- Promoting A Sexual Performance By A Minor Under Age Of 18 (4 counts)
In that case, a partially secured bond for $10,000 was set on February 5, 2020, and was posted on February 14. Court records show that a new cash bond for $50,000 was set on December 4, 2024, following the violation of his release conditions in the DCSO case.
Earlier this year, Braden pled guilty to third-degree terroristic threatening. According to the arrest citation, Braden sent messages via Facebook Messenger to a female victim. OT is choosing not to disclose the exact threats, but the citation says that Braden “threatened to commit a crime likely to result in death or serious physical injury” to the victim.
On July 15, 2024, Braden was sentenced to 12 months in jail for the terroristic threatening charge, but that sentence was suspended. He was given 2 years of supervised probation.
In 2019, DCSO charged Braden with attempted voyeurism following an incident at a school. Court records show that the charge was dismissed after Braden accepted a plea deal in June 2020.
