'It's Happening More Than People Realize': Pryor Man Arrested, Accused Of Sharing And Viewing Child Pornography

A Pryor man is in custody accused of uploading and viewing child pornography.

Detectives with the Pryor Police Department say a lot of work went into this arrest, and this is something investigators take very seriously.

Pryor Police say Paul Valge is facing several charges including possession of child pornography and child exploitation.

Detective Hanna Fisher has been working on the case since June.

"At the time whenever I was assigned the case there were 28 active cyber tips that had been reported by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children," Detective Fisher said.

The probable cause affidavit says investigators found several images and videos of child pornography on devices owned by Valge.

Detective Fisher says a laptop was open and had the dark web pulled up when detectives searched Valge's home.

"There were several cell phones that were seized, I think there were 30 plus cell phones that were seized, several laptops that he was using, several external hard drives that he had been using, flash drives, there was a lot of evidence that was collected this morning," she said.

The affidavit says Valge told investigators he was high on meth.

Detective Fisher says the images Valge had are not believed to be local children, but she says kids are being exploited all the time, not just in Oklahoma, but across the country.

"It's happening more than people realize it is, children are being exploited all hours of the day, every day, it's in every town, small, big, no matter what," she said.

She says it's the department's goal to put a stop to this type of crime.

"It's something that I'm taking seriously and very personally, it's cases that mean a lot to me, it means a lot to our department, to make sure we get these people off the streets and away from the children," she said.