A Knox man is facing child molestation, child solicitation and child pornography charges after a police search turned up thousands of explicit images of young boys.
Knox police said Robert Wisilinski, 67, had the images stored on computers, multiple external hard drives, DVDs, and other storage devices.
Investigators have uncovered 4,495 images to date, depicting young males between the approximate ages of nine and 15.
According to charging documents, the search stemmed from a report of two missing juveniles Sunday night.
Police were told that one of the boys was at Wisilinski’s home on Heaton Street in Knox. Officers visited the house and confirmed that there was a man inside, but he refused to identify himself.
Officers eventually spotted the missing 13-year-old leaving the home with Wisilinski.
An interview with the child revealed that a sexual assault had allegedly taken place.
The victim told police he had gone to “Moped Bob’s” house with another boy to play video games.
According to charging documents, the victim said Wisilinski “began making him watch bad movies” and “touched his bad spot.” The victim told police Wisilinski performed oral sex on him and asked him to reciprocate.
Based on that information, a search warrant was obtained, and officers found the collection of child pornography.
Now police want to get his picture out to the public because they said some of the files appear to be homemade, and there may be other children in the Knox area who are affected.
“Given the quantity of images we’ve discovered, we need help identifying some of these children,” said Starke County Prosecutor Nicholas Bourff.
The prosecutor’s office has already reached out to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in helping to identify children depicted in the videos. Bourff suggested that parents show their children Wisilinski’s photo and ask them if they’ve ever had any issues or encounters with him.
As of Thursday afternoon, three juveniles between the ages of 11 and 15 had been interviewed about their interactions with Wisilinski.
Wisilinski is in the custody of the Starke Co. Jail, held on a $150,000 surety bond. His initial hearing is scheduled for Friday.
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