Shanlin Jin, a 23-year-old man from Allen has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography after police found more than 47,000 images and videos of child pornography on his computer in January 2021.
The Collin County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jin in January 2021 after discovering the existence of the media files. He was charged with one count of possession of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography, and one count of distribution of child pornography.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Jin initially pleaded not guilty on all three counts the following spring. However, in late December, he pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography.
Before his arrest, Jin, a Chinese citizen, was an international student at Southern Methodist University, studying for a doctoral degree in economics. He lived in a rental home on the border of Allen and Fairview.
Per The Dallas Morning News, several of Jin’s electronic devices, including an Alienware desktop computer and four storage devices, have been confiscated by government agencies. The four storage devices hold more than eight terabytes combined.
Police said that the investigation began in December 2020 when a sheriff’s office investigator examined an IP address associated with a torrent network hosting the files. Law enforcement found a video in which an adult male was sexually assaulting a female infant. They subpoenaed the internet service provider, which traced the IP address to Jin.
Police confirmed 1,338 images and videos found on Jin’s computer as child pornography. However, they stopped their forensic investigation due to the large volume of files on the computer.
According to authorities, Jin claimed to have used the software to download movies and pornography. He admitted to seeing child pornography of children in the download. Estimates place the children between the ages of 14 and 16.
As of February 7, Jin was being detained at the Collin County Detention Facility in McKinney, which has a federal detainer agreement with the U.S. Marshall service and Dallas’ FBI office. His bond set at $250,000. Jin has not yet been sentenced.