Oregon father who used 1-year-old stepdaughter to make child porn arrested

A man from the US state of Oregon has been arrested after he allegedly used his one-year-old stepdaughter to make child porn and shared the disturbing files over Kik — a freeware instant messaging mobile app.

Kelly Shane Rice, 29, has been charged with using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct; sex abuse, unlawful sexual penetration and encouraging child sex abuse.

The 29-year-old was arrested after investigators tracked down the uploaded pornographic files to Rice's Roseburg, Oregon home and executed a search warrant on 2 November.

"During the search of the residence and the following investigation, it was discovered that one of the child pornographic images was produced at that residence," State police and Homeland Security Investigations told KVAL 13.

Rice is currently being held in the Douglas County Jail and his bail has been set at $1.1m (£834,000). Investigation was underway in the case.

This is not the first time a Kik user has been arrested for a crime. In recent years the app – founded in 2009 by a group of students from the University of Waterloo in Canada – has drawn controversy due to its alleged involvement in a number of incidents of child exploitation.

Unlike other apps, Kik allows its users to preserve their anonymity and enable them to register without providing a telephone number, making the app user almost untraceable.

In 2016, A Michigan teenager was arrested for child pornography after she allegedly sold nude pictures and videos of herself on Kik. It was reported that the 15-year-old had made around 20 sales and over $1,000 from the online business for more than a year.

In another case, a Philadelphia mother was sentenced to 25 years for selling her six-year-old daughter for sex to a man, whom she met in a Kik chat room. Christine Yoder had offered her eldest daughter to a man in Detroit, using username "freakygirl82".