Jeffrey Daniel Hiatt, 31, was charged June 4 with two counts — dealing in depictions of minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree and possession of depictions of minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in the first degree.

He is not currently in custody, bail was reportedly set at $5,000. Charging documents stated Hiatt has no known criminal history.

His next court date is scheduled for July 24.

A Seattle Police Department detective, as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Investigations Unit, opened an investigation in March 2018.

According to charging documents, the detective chose Hiatt’s IP address to investigate due to the more than 50,000 contraband connections made in 91 sessions through the “BitTorrent” network.

The contraband connections, according to charging documents, included child pornography.

At the time of the initial investigation, it was determined the IP address belonged to Hiatt when he lived in Renton. He has since moved to Issaquah.

The case was turned over to King County Sheriff’s Office detectives.

Once the case was turned over to the Sheriff’s Office, detectives began to conduct surveillance and research on Hiatt.

A search warrant was obtained and a search of his Issaquah home was conducted in April 2018.

Multiple devices were taken from his home and detectives completed an interview with Hiatt, charging documents stated.

During his interview, Hiatt reportedly admitted to being the one that downloaded child pornography while at his home in Renton. He also admitted to using the “Torrent” program.

During an initial search of his devices, detectives determine they did contain child pornography. Then later during a forensic examination, it was determined that Hiatt was in possession of more than 10,000 images.

Hiatt’s arrest comes as part of Operation Broken Heart — a national effort involving all Internet crimes against children task force groups.

According to a media release from the King County Sheriff’s Office, from March 1 to May 31, 2018 a total of 51 investigations were opened. Out of those 51, a total of 47 search warrants were granted and arrests were made.

The King County Sheriff’s Office also conducted three other investigations along with Hiatt including cases in Kent, Issaquah and Redmond.

Contact Editor Sarah Brenden at sbrenden@rentonreporter.com or by phone at 425-336-4959.