A rural Park Rapids man made his first appearance Wednesday in Becker County District Court on 11 felony counts of possession of child pornography.
Gregory Hubert Dirkes, 45, of 36318 Co. Rd. 127, Park Rapids, was charged as the result of an undercover investigation conducted by a Minneapolis police officer in the fall of 2008.
The officer discovered via a file sharing network that someone with a Park Rapids I.P. address had been offering to share or distribute pornographic images of children. He connected directly with the computer and found that the pornographic images were publicly available via the file sharing network.
A search warrant was executed at Dirkes' residence on Dec. 28, 2008. Several computers,. Hard drives and digital evidence were confiscated as a result of the search. The confiscated material included 110 videos and 23 images positively identified as containing "children engaged in pornographic acts."
Dirkes remains in custody pending his next appearance at a Nov. 15 Rule 8 hearing; Judge Peter Irvine set his bail at $20,000 with conditions or $100,000 without.
