Shooter’s brother suspected in use of child porn

LOS ANGELES >> A brother of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock was arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of possessing child pornography, authorities said Wednesday.

Bruce Paddock, 59, was arrested on a 20-count felony complaint, a police statement said.

His relationship to Stephen Paddock was confirmed by a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Bruce Paddock is not a suspect in the Las Vegas shooting.

The child porn case predated the Oct. 1 shooting, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It wasn’t immediately known if Paddock has an attorney. He was being held on $60,000 bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

The felony complaint for his arrest alleges one count of possession of child or youth pornography and 19 counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

The complaint signed Tuesday by a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney specified that between Jan. 1 and Aug. 30 of 2014, Bruce Paddock knowingly possessed more than 600 images of child or youth pornography involving use of a person under age 18 engaging in or simulating sexual conduct.

The material included “10 or more images of a prepubescent minor or a minor who was under 12 years of age,” the complaint said.

The police statement said Bruce Paddock came under investigation after evidence was discovered inside a business in the Sun Valley area of the city where he had been a squatter. The evidence was discovered after his eviction.

At the time, Bruce Paddock was a transient and couldn’t be found, police said. He was recently located at an address in North Hollywood.

Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds more were wounded Oct. 1 at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip. Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel tower. Stephen Paddock was found dead.