East valley man accused of possessing thousands of images of child porn

MESA, Ariz. (KSAZ) - An east valley man is accused of downloading and sharing child pornography, and the court documents allege disturbing crimes potentially going back decades.

For months and months, investigators were watching 48-year-old Paul Sappington. First, they tracked him by his IP address, and that's where detectives saw files were downloaded showing girls under the age of 15 engaged in sexual activity.

Police were led to the address where Sappington was currently living, and watched the area for weeks before moving in for an arrest.

In interviews with detectives, Sappington revealed disturbing confessions like his addiction to child pornography. He admitted he's been watching since the late 1990s.

Investigators found nearly 2,500 pictures and videos relating to child porn in the recycling bin of Sappington's external hard drive. That's in addition to a thumb drive they found in his pocket during the arrest that had even more deleted files.

According to court documents, Sappington admitted that he knew exactly what he was doing was wrong.

Sappington also told detectives he is currently in the process of getting a job with the state, paradoxically in the human trafficking division of the Department of Child Services.

He's now facing ten felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He is being held on a $150,000 cash bond at the 4th Avenue Jail.