Chris Reilly is his own worst enemy
.When the prominent San Antonio photographer's computer crashed back in 2016, he sent two, 4TB hard drives to a Dallas company called 24 Hour Data, in hopes that the techs would be able to save his work.
The good news? They were successful. The bad news? They also found a huge stash of child pornography, some of which he had downloaded just the night before the crash, according to the affidavit, obtained by 1200 WOAI news.
"He obtained a new hard drive and ‘went a little crazy’ and downloaded videos from the Internet depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct and saved them onto his new hard drive," the court files read.
Reilly pleaded guilty in San Antonio's federal court this week to two felonies. One was the receipt of child porn. The other was for the transmission of child porn.
In a statement, the FBI says they are working to identify the girls whose photos and videos were found on the hard drives.
“As this investigation moves forward, the FBI will continue to focus significant resources on identifying and notifying those who were potentially victimized by the defendant to ensure they are provided appropriate access to victim services and support,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Chris Combs writes. “Anyone possessing information about improper or unlawful activities by Reilly or the production of child pornography should contact the FBI in San Antonio at (210) 225-6741.”
On the now-defunct website for Chris Reilly Photography, there were dozens of examples of photos taken of teenage and pre-pubescent dancers. At times, he worked with San Antonio's Reagan and Johnson High Schools, photographing cheerleaders and members of the band.
The district previously released a statement, saying that no students were harmed during the photo shoots.Sentencing is set for February 26th.