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Change Of Plea Hearing For Youth Minister

A change of plea hearing is scheduled in federal court Tuesday for an Albuquerque youth minister accused of downloading child pornography.

Thirty-four-year-old Derek Schwartzrock was arrested in April after federal investigators said they found more than 12,000 images of child pornography on his computer and other electronic equipment.

Schwartzrock was the children's minister at Evangel Christian Center in Albuquerque. He was fired after church officials learned of the allegations.

Federal prosecutors say the investigation started in mid-March after Homeland Security investigators in Philadelphia determined that someone in Albuquerque was accessing a website that contained explicit images of children. They determined Schwartzrock was the owner of the IP address that was allegedly used to download images.

According to a criminal complaint, Schwartzrock told agents he has never touched a child inappropriately.


 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.