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The FBI is using seven area billboards in an effort to help solve an Internet child pornography case that might have ties to Charlotte.
The billboards carry several photos that were taken from child porn that has surfaced recently on the Internet. The photos include a child’s drinking cup from the QuikTrip chain of gas stations and a baseball cap.
The photo of the cup and baseball cap lead FBI investigators to believe the picture was taken prior to November 2005 in or near one of these cities where QuikTrip stores are located -- Charlotte; Atlanta; Dallas-Fort Worth; Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Neb.; Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.; Kansas City; Wichita, Kan.; Phoenix; Tucson; St. Louis; Tulsa, Okla.; or Springfield, Mo.
Shelley Lynch, a spokeswoman for the Charlotte office of the FBI, says the images were pulled from a series of photographs that surfaced on the Internet, showing a girl, about 10 years old, posing naked in sexually explicit positions. Also visible is a man who is watching the child’s behavior from a bed nearby.
“A baseball cap displaying what could be the logo of a local sports team, as well as a partial image of what appears to be a telephone book, are also clues,” Lynch said.
She said the adult in the photos is an white male, between the ages of 55 and 65, with brown eyes, gray hair, and a full beard and mustache.
“The public is reminded that no charges have been filed in the case, and the pictured individual is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law,” Lynch added.
However, she said, the FBI is concerned about the welfare of the girl in the photos.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact the FBI at 704-672-6100, or at https://tips.fbi.gov.
The billboards are at these locations:
-- Interstate 85, one-third of a mile north of the Billy Graham Parkway
-- Interstate 77, one-fifth of a mile north of W.T. Harris Boulevard
-- I-77, nine-tenths of a mile north of Carowinds Boulevard (facing south)
-- U.S. 74, about 30 feet west of Walkup Avenue, in Monroe
-- I-85, 100 feet north of Dixon Road, in Shelby
-- U.S. 74, about a half-mile east of I-485, in Stallings
-- U.S. 321, 540 feet north of the Catawba-Caldwell county line
