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Former CHP officer charged with receiving child pornography

Timothy Allen Horwath is charged with receiving child porn while serving as a CHP officer.
Timothy Allen Horwath, shown in a booking photo, is charged with receiving child pornography while serving as an officer.
(Shasta County Sheriff’s Office)
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A former California Highway Patrol officer from Redding is charged with receiving child pornography while serving as an officer and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento said.

Timothy Allen Horwath, 50, received videos of children in sexually explicit conduct from February to October of this year while serving as a CHP officer, federal prosecutors said in court documents.

In an indictment filed Dec. 5, prosecutors allege Horwath received explicit videos involving children ages 4 to 7 on two phones and a laptop.

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Horwath did not immediately respond to a telephone message left at a listing for him, and it was not immediately known whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. He is scheduled for a detention hearing Wednesday.

CHP Chief Elizabeth Barkley said in a statement Monday that the alleged conduct occurred “while the employee was on and off duty.”

“I want to assure the public that the Department takes any allegation of misconduct by our employees, whether on or off duty, very seriously,” she said.

Barkley said Horwath stopped working on Nov. 12, but she did not say whether he was allowed to retire while the allegations were pending or was dismissed.

CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader said state law prevented her from discussing Horwath’s case.

Horwath was arrested at his Redding home in October as part of a months-long investigation by the CHP, the FBI and the Sacramento Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution to his victims.

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