NORFOLK, Va. — A Navy sailor in Norfolk pleaded guilty Thursday to having illicit pictures and videos of children, the city's Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said.
Zachary Allen Idzenga, 37, was convicted of one count of possessing child pornography in a first offense and of five subsequent counts of possessing child pornography.
The investigation began on Jan. 16, 2023, when Idzenga's cell phone company sent a tip to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) that he was saving child abuse content.
NCMEC alerted the New York State Police Department (NYSPD) based on Idzenga's area code, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
NYSPD secured and executed a search warrant for Inzenga's information from his cell phone company, discovering that he was in the Navy and stationed in Norfolk. The case was then assigned to a Norfolk Police Department investigator.
In an interview, Idzenga confessed that he searched for and downloaded over 1,000 pictures and videos containing child sexual abuse material from a social media site, the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said.
“People who seek out and share child sexual abuse material revictimize children because the images of child sexual abuse can live forever,” Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi wrote in a news release. “For the protection of past and potential future victims, we must hold accountable the people who fuel this morally indefensible trade.”
Idzenga is scheduled to be sentenced on May 24.
