20 charges added in porn arrest

An East Palatka man who was arrested Wednesday on child pornography charges has been arrested on 20 additional charges and appears poised to have dozens more charges filed against him, authorities said.

Matthew Phillip Bowen, 28, was arrested at his home after a search warrant was executed by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He was charged with possession of child pornography and promoting the sexual performance of a child.

Since the Wednesday arrest, investigators had found enough evidence to impose additional charges against Bowen.

He was arrested the second time at the Putnam County Jail, where he was already being held on the first charge.

Putnam County investigators said the case against Bowen began building when a Martin County detective working on a child pornography case found what appeared to be signs of pornography and video file-trading between a Martin County suspect and Bowen's Internet address.

During the search at Bowen's home, officials seized several compact disks, DVDs, computer hard drives and two laptop computers, which were sent to an FDLE forensic computer specialist.

The latest charges are the result of what the FDLE specialist found on media taken from Bowen's home.

In a news release issued this weekend, Putnam County investigators said that, although the investigation “is still in its early stages,” the forensic specialist has already found “several hundred images and digital movies depicting sexual acts being performed by, or on, children on just one disk,” and “that some of the children appear to as young as 5 years old.”

Additional charges are expected to be filed against Bowen over the next few weeks, officials said.

Karen Voyles can be reached at 359-5656 or kvoyles@gmail.com