BLACKBERRY TOWNSHIP – A 43-year-old Blackberry Township man was arrested on a felony charge of transportation of child pornography, the Chicago office of the FBI said.

Dennis Houston, of the 3S500 block of Bliss Road, was arrested without incident Thursday. While searching Houston's laptop, agents found about 1,300 child pornography images and files, including four that were shared with an undercover FBI agent Feb. 29, the FBI said in a statement.

Houston is being held without bond in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, pending his court appearance today in U.S. District Court.

If convicted, Houston faces five to 20 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, an undercover agent in Maryland accessed a peer-to-peer file sharing network that was associated with the letters "pthc." The letters are known as common shorthand for the phrase "pre-teen hard core."

The undercover agent engaged in an online chat with the person, who provided the password "kiddie" for both his file folders, entitled "pthc" and "Sam."

The undercover agent downloaded about 20 images and one video file from the person, all depicting what appeared to be child pornography, according to the complaint.

The complaint goes on to say that the images were of nude or partially nude girls, appearing "to depict real children engaged in sexually explicit activity."

The person in question was later identified through his Internet protocol address as Houston, the complaint states.

At the date and time of the file sharing with the undercover officer, Houston was listed as living at an address in the 400 block of Grove Street in Weldon.

But because the Verizon product is a wireless Internet access card, it is not tied to a specific physical address; it can be used anywhere Verizon provides coverage.

The FBI used Illinois Secretary of State records to determine that Houston received a new driver's license on Feb. 4, providing a new address in the 3S500 block of Bliss Road near Sugar Grove. Houston also registered his 1999 blue Ford pickup truck there.

After accessing cell-site records from Verizon, agents determined Houston was actually located at the Bliss Road address when he allegedly transported child porn images to the undercover agent.

According to the complaint, Houston admitted to agents that he used a folder titled "pthc" and used a password of "kiddie."

The complaint also states that Houston estimated he had about 100 files containing child pornography on his computer.

Houston was investigated and arrested by special agents assigned to the Innocent Images Task Force. The task force, founded in 1996, is part of a national effort to combat the manufacture, distribution and possession of child pornography.

"Innocent Images follows through on tips, sources from other law enforcement, parents and guardians of victims," said Special Agent Ross Rice.

Anyone having any information that might be relevant to the investigation is asked to call the Chicago FBI at 312-421-6700.