Carthage man charged in child pornography investigation

A Carthage man is facing 40 felony charges in connection with a child pornography case that has been under investigation by a task force for months.

Robert Joseph Vest, 28, of 1117 Peace Road, was charged Thursday with 20 counts of felony second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and 20 counts of felony third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

He was held at the Moore County Detention Center under a $500,000 secured bond.

Moore County Sheriff Lane Carter said the arrest was the result of an undercover investigation by the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce. A Moore County sheriff’s detective assigned to the taskforce learned of sexually explicit images of children that were being offered from a location in the Carthage area for dissemination over peer-to-peer networks on the Internet.

The Moore County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations Computer Crimes Unit, which is also part of the taskforce, conducted a search Wednesday at Vest’s residence. Carter said numerous child pornography files were found in the home.

The case remains under investigation and more charges are possible.