Sand Springs Teen Arrested For Child Porn, Pot Possession

Sand Springs Police arrested an 18-year-old man on four counts of possession of child pornography. Robert Arden Sternke was taken into custody at his family home Wednesday, according to an arrest report.

Police say Sternke's IP address was traced by a Guthrie Police Officer who is also an investigator with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The investigator learned that four video files of child pornography images had been downloaded to that address in November, the arrest report states.

Sand Springs Police received a warrant to search Sternke's home and arrived early Wednesday morning. Sternke and his mother were home when officers got to the house, police say.

Police went to question the teen at his bedroom. They say the door was locked and not immediately answered, and they kicked it open.

"The accused Robert Arden Sternke was getting out of bed and had a pair of under shorts on," the arresting officer said in his report. "He asked what was going on, and I informed him that we had a search warrant."

The mother denied having any child pornography and gave police permission to search, according to court documents.

Police say when they asked the 18-year-old if he knew anything about it, he "hung his head and said, ‘yea, I don't want to get my family involved.'"

Sternke then showed police where his computer equipment was located. During the search, officers found marijuana and some paraphernalia.

The 18-year-old was booked into Tulsa County Jail on four counts of child pornography, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.

He was released on a $40,500 bond.