HOUSTON – A cyber-tip generated by Google and sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to the arrest of a 41-year-old Houston man who is charged with possessing child pornography.
Police say Google detected explicit images of a young girl in an email that John Henry Skillern was sending to a friend, the company then alerted authorities.
"He was trying to get around getting caught, he was trying to keep it inside his email," said Detective David Nettles of the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce. "I can't see that information, I can't see that photo, but Google can."
Skillern is a registered sex offender who was convicted of sexually assaulting an 8 year old boy in 1994.
According to the sex offender registry, Skillern lives in the 2400 Lidstone in Houston. But police say he spends much of his time at his parent's home on Hickory Lane in Pasadena.
"He seemed like a nice, normal man," said neighbor Yesenia Gonzales. "Thank goodness for Google."
After obtaining a search warrant, investigators said they found child porn on Skillern's phone and tablet device. They also found text messages and e-mails where he talked about his interest in children.
According to police, Skillern worked as a cook for a Denny's restaurant in Pasadena. They say he had video on his cell phone of young children visiting the restaurant with their families.
Skillern has been charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of promotion of child pornography. He's being held on a $200,000 bond.
Google wouldn't respond to our questions about their technology used to fight child porn, but police are grateful for the tip.
"I really don't know how they do their job," said Nettles. "But I'm just glad they do it."
