Jul. 3—A Decatur man faces three counts of possession and intent to distribute child sexual abuse material after a detective with a child protection nonprofit launched an investigation based on a tip about the content he had on a social media app, according to an affidavit.
Dakota Charles Epps, 34, was booked into Morgan County Jail on Wednesday and is being held in lieu of a $300,000 bond.
The affidavit said on Jan. 31, 2025, a detective with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip about an account on the app KIK that had uploaded images of child sexual abuse material. The detective was able to find the account owner information and the IP address being used to utilize the account.
A subpoena was issued to Charter Communications for the owner of the IP address and they said it was at a residence in Decatur located at in the 1500 block of Magnolia Street Southeast.
Decatur police said the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit began an investigation and Epps was developed as a suspect.
“On July 2, 2025, a search warrant was executed at his residence,” police said. “During the course of the investigation, Epps was found to be in possession of at least three videos of child sexual abuse material.”
According to the affidavit, the videos contained two prepubescent males performing sexual acts on each other, two prepubescent females performing sexual acts on each other, and an adult male having sex with a prepubescent female “that appears to be under the age of 13.”
— wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.