In December 2014, Kern County Sheriff’s deputies from the Kern Valley substation received information that a subject identified as 28-year-old Joseph Barton-Mete was in possession of child pornography.
During the investigation deputies obtained a search warrant for Barton-Mete’s residence and seized computers from the home.
The computers were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be analyzed in 2015. On January 7th, 2016 deputies were notified that numerous videos depicting child pornography had been located on a computer which had been seized from Barton-Mete’s home.
Later that day deputies obtained an arrest warrant for Barton-Mete charging him with possession of child pornography.
On January 8th, 2016 deputies, along with agents from the FBI, served the arrest warrant and arrested Barton-Mete in the Lake Isabella area. He was booked into the Sheriff’s Office Central Receiving facility and is being held on $200,000 bail.
