PIKEVILLE, Ky. — A Pike County man arrested last week on 20 counts of possessing child pornography has now seen his case bumped up to federal court.

Charles Michael Hopkins, 34, of Virgie, was arrested last week after Kentucky State Police received a tip that he had been uploading and downloading child porn images online. That case has now been moved to federal court.

Documents in the federal case provide a more complete picture of the allegations. According to an affidavit by the FBI agent investigating the case, KSP received the first report about Hopkins from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children back in June. That was followed by 12 more reports the following month.

Last week, police obtained a search warrant for his home, where they seized several electronic devices. When they interviewed Hopkins afterwards, he first told them he was sent images by a person he met online. He said he deleted the images after discovering they were child porn.

However, the affidavit says he later told police that he had saved some child porn images involving infants that he had received previously, but said it was only because he liked the adults in the images, not the infants. He also reportedly admitted to sending child porn to others as a way to start conversations, but maintained that he never produced any of the images.

Hopkins has initially been charged with possessing child porn, which carries a sentence of at least five years in prison.