Great Falls man appears in court on 24 child porn charges

The man arrested Wednesday evening on a warrant for two dozen counts of sexual abuse of children made his initial court appearance Thursday.

Talan Michael Harrington, 29, is charged wth possessing 24 images of child pornography.

According to court documents, a national Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force investigation traced shared images to a computer to which Harrington had access. Court records say Harrington told investigators he had downloaded pornographic videos with 7 or 8-year-old subjects in them. Charging documents say investigators found the images had been procured between October 2012 and January 2013, and a Homeland Security agent conducting the search recognized two subjects from the images from previous cases.

Defense Attorney Carl Jensen appeared in court on Harrington’s behalf, noting that the defendant’s wife and three other family members were in the courtroom to support him. Jensen also argued for a bail reduction, stating that while he understands there are victims in this case, “my client is not the one who took those pictures.”

The state said the charges are very serious and involve real child victims. The state requested the $50,000 bond called for in the arrest warrant stand sue to the nature of the alleged crime and the number of images recovered. The judge maintained the $50,000 bail amount.