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TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. —The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has arrested a 53-year-old man following a months-long investigation that uncovered one of the largest known collections of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) linked to a single suspect in California.
The investigation began in June 2024, when investigators from the CHP’s Computer Crimes Investigation Unit (CCIU) identified an Internet Protocol (IP) address involved in large-scale CSAM downloads. Over the course of the investigation, CHP investigators obtained more than 300 gigabytes of suspected CSAM linked to the suspect — one of the largest volumes associated with a single individual in the state at the time.
On Aug. 21, 2024, CCIU investigators, with assistance from the CHP Inland Division Investigative Services Unit (ISU), executed a search warrant at the suspect’s Twentynine Palms residence. Investigators seized multiple digital devices, and forensic analysis later confirmed extensive collections of CSAM.
After completing the forensic analysis and following the filing of charges by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, CHP Inland Division ISU investigators located and arrested Scott Raymond Cherko, 53, of Twentynine Palms, on Oct. 23, 2025. Cherko was booked into the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Morongo Basin Station on an arrest warrant for possession of CSAM and is being held on $80,000 bail.
The operation combined the CCIU’s digital forensic expertise with ISU’s field operations to ensure a successful outcome.
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