PLEASANT HILL — If a woman hadn’t decided to shoplift from a local Kohl’s at around 12:45 p.m. on Aug. 9, an alleged child pornography distributor may have avoided arrest.
Pleasant Hill officers were called to the Kohl’s for a report of a woman who’d loaded merchandise into her purse, loaded it into a black Saturn sedan, then returned to the store for more. But when officers got there, they were more interested in what they found inside the Saturn, authorities say.
In the front seat, police found the shoplifting suspect’s husband: a sleeping Jaime Nunez Hernandez, with a pistol plainly visible by his feet. The officers woke him up, detained him at gunpoint, then seized his mobile phone and a small amount of methamphetamine from the car, police said.
Hernandez, a 38-year-old Pittsburg resident, allegedly told police he found the gun in Pittsburg.
But when authorities searched the phone, the investigation took a turn. The investigators not only found more than 600 child pornography files, including several videos that Hernandez allegedly sent to another person, using a chat application. The videos depicted prepubescent children being raped and sexually abused, authorities said.
Prosecutors have charged Hernandez with child pornography possession and distribution, carrying a concealed weapon in public, and possession of a controlled substance, court records show.
Hernandez is being held in the West County Detention Facility. His bail has been set at $405,000. His next court date has been set for Sept. 27, records show.