A 48-year-old father is jailed on accusations he downloaded, kept and shared child pornography videos.

Ernest “Paul” Campbell IV, when confronted by investigators, reportedly said at first he downloaded the illegal material inadvertently. However, he continued to search the Internet for more using key words like “teen,” and accumulating videos depicting children as young as 4 years old, according to court records.

Court records say Campbell’s personal computer equipment contained more than 300 illegal videos.

“(Campbell) blamed the continued searching on curiosity, describing it as like watching a car wreck,” states an affidavit of probable cause, which was written by a member of the state Attorney General’s Child Predator Section.

Campbell, according to court records, came to investigators’ attention because his computer’s credentials were noted in an online sharing network. Investigators followed up on July 15, by searching Campbell’s home at 921 Bear Creek Road, which he shares with his parents.

Investigators reportedly found the material on a laptop and external hard drive kept in a toolbox in a detached garage.

Campbell the same day was questioned at his place of employment, a manufacturing company in Westmoreland County. He at that time allegedly acknowledged ownership of the material, according to court records.

Campbell is charged with distribution of child pornography, possessing child pornography and criminal use of a communications facility. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5 in the Saxonburg courtroom of District Judge Sue Haggerty.

Already, Haggerty arraigned Campbell and set his bail at $50,000. If Campbell posts a bond and is released from prison he is forbidden from having contact with minors while his case is pending. Campbell during the arraignment identified himself as a divorced father of two children, ages 12 and 15.