ROCK SPRINGS — A 23-year-old Rock Springs man has been arrested in connection with possession and distribution of child pornography, according to Sweetwater County Sheriff John Grossnickle.

Mark William O’Donnell, originally from Kemmerer, was arrested on Wednesday, August 17, after months of investigation by a sheriff’s detective assigned to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s (DCI) Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and Computer Crime Team (CCT).

According to a statement from the SCSO, the Wyoming ICAC Task Force received a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) of suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM) recently uploaded and distributed through the social networking platform Snapchat.

Through the course of investigation investigators identified O’Donnell as the suspected source of the CSAM upload to Snapchat.

Detectives and DCI specials agents made contact with O’Donnell at his place of employment after executing a series of physical and digital search warrants and took him into custody on August 17.

O’Donnell was released from the Sweetwater County Detention Center on Friday, August 19 on a $50,000 surety bond.

He’ll make his initial appearance in Circuit Court on Wednesday, September 21 where he faces one count of suspected possession of child pornography and one count of suspected distribution of child pornography, according to the SCSO statement.

O’Donnell could be facing a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison and a $20,000 fine if found guilty of the alleged crimes.

“In today’s world, unfortunately, these these types of crimes are a growing problem,” said SCSO Public Information Officer Jason Mower. “That’s why we have a dedicated detective assigned to the ICAC team.”

Mower also said “luckily, continued advancements in technology make it increasingly difficult for the average person to send anything truly anonymously over the internet.”