MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Child pornography, a picture of a toddler performing oral sex on a man, has gone viral on social media in the Mid-South.
"The well being of the child is our main responsibility right now," said Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong.
"Never in my wildest dreams did you ever think that someone would ever stoop to that level to do something as sick as that," he said.
Investigators say they're working to determine where the picture came from, and if that young victim lives in the Mid-South. In the meantime, controversial talk show host Thaddeus Matthews is now a focus of that investigation because he posted the picture on his Facebook page.
"I took a chance, I put it up there for 30 or 40 minutes," Matthews said.
Matthews says he was hoping someone would recognize the child and call police.
"I understand that you are not supposed to let's say, put porn out there," Matthews said. "I put it up there for a few minutes, if someone wants to come after me, for trying to help a child, bring it. Come on, do what you do."
"Certainly we would have thought the desired response would have been to contact law enforcement versus posting a picture like that and allow it to go viral," Police Director Armstrong said.
"I don't know what his intentions was, I don't know if he had the best intentions, I don't know if he had, ill intentions," Armstrong said. "You can see what kind of dilemma you put yourself in when you take steps to do things like that."
abc24.com was notified about the photo over the weekend by a concerned viewer. Late Tuesday, an investigator stopped by our newsroom to collect evidence and document the photo.
Police say they understand you can't control what is sent to you. They say that if you ever receive something like that, call police immediately.
"At some point this investigation could lead back to someone that disseminated it, someone with what they considered the best intentions or I just wanted to share with someone else," Armstrong said.
Investigators plan to talk with Matthews in the coming days.
"He will have an opportunity to talk to investigators, explain his reasoning for it posting such a picture," Armstrong said.
