FBI seizes dozens of digital devices in child porn search at Wichita home; one arrested

A Wichita man was arrested last week as federal agents seized dozens of digital devices from his home as part of a child pornography investigation.

Patrick Wayne Earl, 36, was arrested by Wichita police officers on Thursday at his home in the 1300 block of West 50th Street South, records show. He was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of distributing drugs and criminal possession of a gun.

The arrest happened about 5 minutes after the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed up at the house with a search warrant for evidence of sexual exploitation of minors. Public records filed in U.S. District Court in Wichita show Earl is the subject of a child porn investigation.

The FBI and Wichita police began investigating after Kik Messenger sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in February, the application for the search warrant states. The seven files of child porn uploaded to Kik included teenage girls, as well as girls younger than 10 years old.

Investigators used information from Kik, Google and AT&T to connect the files to Earl and his home address. The warrant property receipt shows the FBI seized 36 pieces of evidence, including multiple computers, cellphones, digital storage devices and video game systems.