A former Tamaqua resident who is the owner and operator of the Fortin Academy of Music in the borough has been arrested on child pornography charges.

David Fortin, 37, of Forty Fort, Luzerne County, was charged Tuesday with 500 counts of child pornography, 100 counts of disseminating photos/film of child sex acts, and two counts of criminal use of a communications facility, according to court records.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by detectives C.J Balogh and Richard Naprava of the Luzerne County Detectives/West Hazleton Police Department in the case against David Fortin:

On Nov. 12, detectives received a Cybertip from Detective Sgt. Ken Belis, Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Commander.

The Cybertip was reviewed, and according to their records, the screen/user name of David Fortin had uploaded 190 files depicting suspected child sexual abuse material.

Investigators sent a subpoena to Google for his email address.

Google responded with the mobile number, which matched Fortin’s mobile number, which appears on his business, Fortin Academy of Music website, and on several social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram.

At 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, members of the Luzerne County Detectives, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Pennsylvania State Police Northeast Computer Crime Unit, Forty Fort Borough Police Department and Swoyersville Borough Police Department executed a search warrant at the home of Fortin.

When investigators told Fortin they were looking for evidence of child sexual abuse material, and more specifically, his Dropbox account, Fortin said, “I can explain that.”

Fortin said one month ago he logged into his Dropbox account to clear out the account so he could obtain more storage space.

He said he realized there was a hyperlink (containing more child sexual abuse material) and attempted to delete the link but was unable to do so.

Fortin then upgraded his account by purchasing additional storage with a credit card.

At this point, Fortin opened the link and saw the folder named “Boy Vids” which he described as child sexual abuse material. According to Fortin, he was then immediately locked out of his Dropbox account.

Fortin admitted to creating the Dropbox account referred to in the Cybertip, and verified his email and mobile number.

During the interview, Fortin told investigators that he would utilize key words which are common search terms to locate child sexual abuse material.

Some videos of boys included rape and one indicated the boy was “tortured,” according to court papers

Fortin said he wanted to stop looking at these types of videos because he was aware it was illegal, that the videos hurt children, and that he wanted to help children.

Fortin told investigators that he feels bad for being involved with child sexual abuse material, and denied having any images and/or videos depicting child sexual abuse materials on any of his current electronic storage devices.

He also denied ever touching a child in a sexual manner.

Fortin admitted that there was a period of time where he was into downloading and disseminating images/videos depicting child sexual abuse material, and told investigators that he would utilize social media applications Kik, Wickr and Telegram to connect with other people to download and disseminate the images/videos.

Fortin told investigators he has not personally taken any of the videos.

Investigators also located in excess of 400 image and video files indicative of child sexual abuse material on Fortin’s Apple iPhone 11 Max Pro, which was seized for further forensic analysis.

On Nov. 19, Naprava executed a search warrant on Dropbox Inc.

Investigators located thousands of video files containing child sexual abuse materials.

Fortin was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge David A. Barilla of Forty Fort, Luzerne County.

He was denied bail because he is a “danger to society,” court documents state. Fortin is in the Luzerne County Prison.

A preliminary hearing is listed for 8 a.m. Nov. 30 in Luzerne County Central Court.

Amy Marchiano contributed to this report.