POSTED: Friday, December 10, 2010 - 3:40pm
UPDATED: Monday, August 15, 2011 - 9:34am
EL PASO - We now know what led to the arrest of an El Paso sex offender on child porn charges.
Miguel Gomez left a trail a thousand miles long.
It began in August.
That is when police arrested a Minnesota man for sexually assaulting a child.
He also admitted to making child porn and emailing it to a man in New York named Anthony William Brooks, a registered sex offender.
A search of Brooks' email account revealed he frequently contacted someone with the email address that was traced to Miguel Gomez in El Paso.
According to the criminal complaint, emails showed Gomez and Brooks started sharing videos and pictures of child porn last year.
In the emails, investigators say Gomez and Brooks "expressed an interest in prepubescent boys, and talked about sexually assaulting children."
On Wednesday, police and the FBI arrested Gomez after searching his house in East El Paso.
According to the criminal complaint, Gomez told investigators he knew why they were there and said there would be a lot of stuff on his computer.
Police say "he had approximately 50,000 images of child pornography stored on his computer, one thumb drive and his cell phone."
So far, investigators have only identified about 250 videos and 1,600 pictures of child pornography but expect to find more.
Gomez is in jail awaiting a bond hearing on Tuesday.
He was convicted of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy in Virginia in 1994.
He told investigators he has not offended since then.