(Editor’s note: Some of the details in this article may be disturbing to read. Discretion advised.)
A Redmond man was arrested Thursday, accused of multiple instances of possessing child sexual abuse materials and committing animal sexual abuse. It’s a case that spans all the way to North Carolina.
Bend Police say Jacob John Trudell, 32, was arrested in Eagle, Idaho and will be extradited to Oregon to face charges.
Police say they received multiple tips from the International Crimes Against Children Task Force Program in July 2022 that someone in Central Oregon was in possession of child sexual abuse material and animal sexual abuse material on a cloud storage account. Detectives allegedly determined it was Trudell’s account.
RELATED: Police: Convicted felon arrested after trespassing at SW Bend home
A search warrant was issued in January on a residence in Redmond. Bend Police say detectives seized cell phones, computers and hard drives.
Additional warrants led detectives to analyze devices belonging to Trudell, Bend Police said. They allege that evidence was found of Trudell sexually assaulting a dog at a residence in Bend, as well as evidence of past sexual abuse of a minor.
Bend Police say its detectives worked with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina. They were working to identify children in multiple images allegedly on Trudell’s devices. A Charlotte man was arrested on charges associated with those images.
A grand jury indicted Trudell on 23 counts Tuesday, including 20 counts of encouraging child sex abuse — 10 first-degree and 10 second-degree. According to documents filed in Deschutes County Circuit Court, Trudell obtained images of sexually explicit content involving children between June 14, 2021 and January 3, 2023.
Trudell is also charged with two counts of sexual assault of an animal and one count of encouraging sexual assault of an animal.
A warrant was issued for Trudell Wednesday and he was arrested Thursday.
