TROY – Authorites arrested a rural Lincoln County man Thursday night on charges of possession of child pornography amidst allegations he hid a camera in a bathroom.

Jeremy Crouch, 40, remains in custody at the Lincoln County Jail on a $750,000 cash-only bond after his arrest for on the 13-count felony arrest warrant.

According to a probable cause statement, Crouch’s cellular phone service provider, Verizon, contacted the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children after it “observed approximately three files of suspected child pornography associated to a suspect user account.”

Lincoln County Detective Christopher Hollingsworth began investigating the report March 27, and after reviewing the images in conjunction with the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Unit and cellular service provider, obtained an arrest and search warrant.

After Crouch’s arrest at his workplace, NAPA Auto Parts, law enforcement executed the search warrant at his parents’ home where he lives in the 100 block of Casmer Drive, west of Troy.

It was there investigators reportedly uncovered a cache of child pornography, including more than a dozen dvds and an external hard drive that included nude images and videos downloaded from the Internet.

Also on the external hard drive, investigators found “multiple self-produced completely nude images of three “pre-pubescent” boys Crouch had previously baby sat.

Court documents further stat the images were obtained from a hidden camera that the victims appear “unaware of.”

The DVDs were recovered from a locked file cabinet, where investigators also found several handwritten notes on NAPA letter head, that stated “(victim) got completely undressed in front of me three times … Called me into the bathroom while he was nude on the toilet had me stay with him for a while. … (Victim 2) got nude in front of me everyday.” “

After his arrest, Hollingsworth said Crouch denied the charges.

“He) denied any knowledge of the child pornography located in the Synchronoss (Verizon) search warrant return and denied any knowledge of the hand written notes on the Napa letterhead that was located in his bedroom,” Hollingsworth stated in the probable cause statement.

Despite his claims of innocence and ignorance, Crouch remains jailed on the $750,000 cash-only bond. According to court documents, he does not have an attorney at this time.

Crouch faces 11 Class B and two Class D felony charges for possession of child pornography. The Class B charges carry a minimum of five years and a maximum of 15 on each count while the minimum/maximum on the Class D charges is one and seven. Consequently, if convicted on all counts, Crouch could face up to 179 years in prison.

Lincoln County Sheriff Rick Harrell said the investigation into Crouch is ongoing as they try to determine if there are any other victims in the area. Anyone with information related to this case or Crouch is urged to contact Hollingsworth by email at either chollingsworth@sccmo.org or chollingsworth@lcsomo.gov or by phone at 636-949-3000, extension 4554.

“Your assistance could be critical,” Harrell said. “So please, don’t hesitate to contact us.”