Camera store employees noticed a memory card full of child pornography this week and called Campbell police, leading them to the arrest of an 80-year-old man who they say owned the photographs.
Campbell police arrested Frank Prendergast after he went back to San Jose Camera and Video on South Winchester Boulevard to get his memory card. He had asked the staff there for help in getting his photos off of it, police said. The memory card was full of child pornography, police said.
An employee working on the card saw about a dozen images he believed were child pornography and called police, Campbell police Capt. Gary Berg told the San Jose Mercury News. The porn was mixed in with other photos; Berg told the newspaper, adding it's possible Pendergast did not know they were on the card when he brought it to the store.
Police said Pendergast admitted to possessing the photographs and that he had other photographs at his home.
During a subsequent search of his San Jose home, several computers were seized along with hundreds of VHS tapes and other media, police said. Detectives are reviewing the evidence.
Prendergast was arrested and booked Tuesday into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for possession of child pornography.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Campbell Police Department Investigations Unit at (408) 947-7867.
