On Monday, February 21st, 2022, at 11:55 am, Turlock Police detectives arrested Kenneth Steven Tharp, 60, of Turlock, after discovering that he was in possession of child pornography.

On Wednesday, January 26th, detectives had received a cyber tip reporting that child pornography had been uploaded to an internet storage service. A high tech crimes detective was assigned to the case, and their investigation revealed that Tharp was who had uploaded the files.

Tharp was contacted and he voluntarily went to the Turlock Police Department to be interviewed.

After the interview, Tharp was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on possession of child pornography and possession of more than 600 pieces of child pornography.

No local victims were identified during the investigation.

“We are leveraging technology and working hard to stop the child exploitation in Turlock,” said Officer Gina Giovacchini.

The investigation remains on-going. Anyone with information that could assist in the investigation is encouraged to call Officer Gina Giovacchini at 209-668-6539.