Four arrested on child pornography charges

By Dave Clark

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008 | 4:51 p.m.

Four Henderson men were among nine people who have been arrested in the past four weeks on child pornography charges.

Juan Vega, 37, of Henderson was being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $500,000 bond on 20 counts of child pornography possession. According to Clark County's court Web site, he pleaded not guilty and his case was in negotiations.

Anthony Flores, 32, of Henderson was being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $150,000 bail on 20 counts of child pornography possession. He is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 18.

Paul Smith, 51, of Henderson was being held at the county detention center on $10,000 bail on 20 counts of child pornography possession, according to online court documents. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 9.

Daniel Combes, 46, and Terry K. Ziegler, 56, were each charged with 15 counts of child pornography possession. No information on their status was available.

Metro Police spokesman Jay Rivera said the arrests stemmed from a four-week undercover operation undertaken jointly by Metro, the Henderson Police and the FBI. None of the Henderson individuals had prior child pornography records, Rivera said.

However, one of the other five did — Michael Ward, 42, who was charged with three counts of statutory sexual seduction, one count of using a minor in the production of pornography and 20 counts child pornography possession.

Thomas Krattenmaker, 22, was charged with six counts of distributing pornography to a minor and 20 counts of child pornography possession.

In addition, Hector Gonzalez, 37, was charged with 15 counts of child pornography possession; and Elbert Bernard was charged with five counts of child pornography possession.

Rivera said none of the individuals were associated with each other.

He advised parents to keep close tabs on their children's computer use.

"We recommend that children do not have access to Internet in their rooms," he said. "You've got to monitor your kids."

Dave Clark is a reporter for the Home News. He can be reached at 702-990-2677 or [email protected].