Joshua Edmund Murphy, 35, of Brunswick, Maryland, is being held without bond after being charged with 8 counts of felony Child Porn Promote/Distribute, and 8 counts of misdemeanor possession of child pornography.
The investigation began following a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), that linked a social media account to the upload and distribution of suspected child sexual abuse material.
According to police documents, detectives from the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Child and Vulnerable Adult Abuse Unit received Cybertipline from NCMEC earlier this month. The report, which originated from the messaging app KiK, identified a user account as having uploaded illicit material on or around September 10, 2025.
Investigators traced the account to an IP address associated with Company 844 – Chillum Fire Station on Riggs Road in Hyattsville, where Joshua Edmund Murphy, 35, is employed as a firefighter.
Subpoenaed records from Verizon, Yahoo, and KiK, along with law enforcement databases, linked the KiK account and its recovery phone number to Murphy. Open-source searches and confirmation from the fire department verified that Murphy was on duty at the fire station at the time the uploads occurred.
On October 23, 2025, detectives executed court-authorized search warrants at the Chillum Fire Station and on Murphy personally. During the search, officers recovered a black iPhone 15, which Murphy confirmed was his. Investigators say a preliminary search of the phone revealed additional suspected child sexual abuse material, including images and videos. One image reportedly depicted the defendant’s 7-year-old daughter.
In a subsequent interview, Murphy admitted that the KiK account used to upload the files belonged to him and confirmed that more illicit material was stored on his phone, according to police reports.
All events under investigation occurred in Prince George’s County. As of this publication, no formal charges have been announced, and the investigation remains ongoing. The Prince George’s County Police Department is coordinating with the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce and other agencies to complete forensic analysis and determine next steps.
