A Fairfax County, Virginia, aquatics instructor faces more than two dozen child pornography charges after police say they found tens of thousands of explicit images and videos of children in his online Dropbox account.
Brendan Lynch, 21, of Alexandria, was arrested Monday, Fairfax County police said in a news release. He is charged with four counts of solicitation of a minor and 26 counts of possession of child pornography. The charges are felonies.
Lynch worked as an aquatics instructor for the Fairfax County Park Authority since 2015 and worked at multiple rec centers.
However, police said, after a preliminary review of the evidence, so far, none of the identified victims appears to be from Fairfax County or related to his job as a swim instructor.
Police said they began their investigation last month after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped them off to illicit images being uploaded to a Dropbox account that police said they later identified as belonging to Lynch.
Detectives last week obtained a search warrant on Lynch’s Alexandria home and recovered multiple electronic devices that also contained illicit images and videos.
Police said detectives also uncovered evidence Lynch had contacted teen boys through social media and dating sites, such as Snapchat, Instagram and Grindr and solicited the teens to send photos and videos.
Lynch is being held without bond at the Adult Detention Center.
Lt. Stephen Wallace, with Fairfax County police, called the sheer number of images found on Lynch’s accounts disturbing and surprising.
“The one message we want to get out to parents is to make sure they know who their children are communicating with on the internet,” he told WTOP.
In a statement Tuesday morning, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said prosecuting the case would be a priority for his office.
“We in Fairfax County have no tolerance for individuals who prey on our young people and my office will always act to hold those responsible for such heinous crimes accountable,” he said in the statement. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
WTOP’s John Domen contributed to this report.
