Cayce man imprisoned for having more than 1 million child pornography images

A Cayce man is serving 15 years in prison on convictions of having more than 1 million downloaded sexually explicit images of children in his home computer equipment, some dating back 12 years, the state Attorney General’s office said Monday.

Edward Neiger, 66, uploaded more than 900 files of child pornography to the internet, according to Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office. Neiger had more than 1 million files.

He pleaded guilty on Thursday to five counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and five counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, Wilson said in a new release.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped investigators that the files were being uploaded to the website Imgur. Though Neiger did download and upload the files, he did not photograph any children, according to Wilson’s office.

Evidence from North Carolina and Delaware showed that Neiger posted links to child pornography on Internet chat rooms, and the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office also found evidence that he sent a file of child pornography via a file sharing network.

Neiger admitted to the crimes as a search warrant was being carried out at his home on July 25, 2015, Wilson said.

Forensic examiners found 1,619,742 sexual images of children and 11,404 sexually explicit videos of children, Wilson said. Several search terms related to child pornography were found on the computer, along with evidence that Neiger had been sharing these files for 12 years and had sent child pornography files thousands of times through file sharing.

Neiger was booked into the state’s prison Kirkland Correctional Institution in Richland County until he’s assigned to a permanent location. Neiger will have to register as a sex offender upon his release.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Cayce man imprisoned for having more than 1 million child pornography images."