A 52-year-old Hammond man is behind bars on 39 counts of pornography involving juveniles under age 13, after Tangipahoa Parish deputies said they traced uploaded material back to him through an investigation that began the previous month. Charles Stewart II was arrested Tuesday morning, and investigators say several electronic devices seized from him will now be analyzed for additional evidence and possible further charges.
According to fox8live.com, the case against Stewart began last month when investigators discovered that upload activity tied to child sexual abuse material was coming from Tangipahoa Parish. From there, the station reports, the Tangipahoa Parish Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force traced the activity directly to Stewart and secured a warrant for his arrest Tuesday morning. The WBRZ report on the arrest states that the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office announced he was jailed Tuesday morning on the 39 counts, all involving children under age 13.
Deputies seized several electronic devices from Stewart as part of the arrest, and per the same account, those devices will be examined for additional evidence that could lead to more charges down the line. No details about the specific material involved, beyond the charge description itself, have been released.
How the Investigation Reached Hammond
The timeline laid out by investigators is narrow but direct: the investigation originated in Livingston Parish and was transferred to Tangipahoa Parish after deputies discovered uploads there. Investigators then traced the activity to Stewart, culminating in Tuesday's warrant and arrest.
What charges could ultimately stick, and whether the device analysis turns up more counts, remains to be seen. For now, Stewart faces the 39 counts filed in connection with his arrest.
A Statewide Surge in Reported Cases
Stewart's arrest lands amid a sharp rise in similar cases across Louisiana. Investigators statewide fielded more than 20,000 tips on online child sexual abuse in 2025, already surpassing the total logged for all of 2024, according to americanpress.com. Those tips led to 457 arrests statewide, with 70 child victims identified and 49 rescued, the outlet reported.
The scale of that growth is striking: tips rose from just 809 in 2013 to more than 13,000 by 2023, the American Press reported. The state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has said the sheer volume of incoming reports has forced a shift in how cases get worked, moving investigations from being primarily proactive to almost entirely reactive because of the massive increase in reported CyberTips.
The task force handling these cases statewide operates under the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation, coordinating with state, local, and federal partners on casework, according to the Louisiana Office of the Attorney General. Under Louisiana law, producing, promoting, advertising, distributing, or possessing child sexual abuse material, or possessing it with intent to distribute, is a crime under La. R.S. §81.1, per the Louisiana State Legislature.
