MSP Civilian pilot charged after reportedly downloading child pornography at work in Talbot Co.

A Maryland State Police investigation resulted in the arrest of a civilian pilot in the State Police Aviation Command on child pornography charges, on Tuesday.

According to Maryland State Police, the accused is identified as 36-year-old David Eldredge of Preston. He is charged with ten counts of possession of child pornography. Eldredge has been employed as a civilian helicopter pilot in the Maryland State Police Aviation Command since March 2014. He was arrested on Tuesday morning at the Easton Section of the Aviation Command.

Eldredge is being held without bond at the Talbot County Detention Center. Following his arrest on Tuesday, he was removed from flight status pending the results of an internal administrative investigation that began immediately.

The investigation began last week when a Maryland State Police criminal investigator assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received information about child pornography being uploaded over the internet to a personal cloud storage account. Further investigation found that the internet address being used was located at the Maryland State Police Aviation Command Easton Section.

Investigators determined that this was a non-Maryland State Police internet account had been created there. The investigation determined the non-State Police account had been used by Eldredge to download images of child pornography on a tablet.

Search warrants were obtained and served Tuesday at both the State Police Aviation Command Easton Section and at Eldredge's home. Evidence obtained during the search warrants will be examined forensically as a part of the ongoing investigation.

The investigation continues.