L Walker 
Hunt was previously arrested at the state level on similar charges in 2012 during “Operation Corral.”
BOSTON — A Brockton man previously convicted of child pornography offenses told federal agents he started using the dark web, once his probation ended, to access child pornography again, according to a federal affidavit.
Daniel Hunt, 50, was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations agents Tuesday morning at his mother’s home in Brockton and charged in U.S. District Court in Boston with receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
His initial appearance at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
Hunt was arrested by federal agents, who were assisted by Brockton police detectives, following an investigation into his alleged use of the dark web (which are websites that are generally encrypted and cannot be searched through traditional methods) to access child pornography.
Hunt was previously arrested at the state level on similar charges in 2012 during “Operation Corral,” which was led by the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
On Tuesday, Hunt agreed to speak with agents who arrived at the Hampton Avenue home in Brockton. He told agents the Tor browser, which was created through onion routing on the dark web to route traffic through multiple servers and encrypt it along the way, was downloaded on his laptop, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.
“Hunt informed investigators that he had been using Tor to access child pornography for approximately three years,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gregory Squire wrote in the affidavit. “Hunt acknowledged that he had been previously convicted of child pornography offenses, and did not begin using Tor until after he finished his probationary period.”
A state Department of Correction spokeswoman said Tuesday that Hunt hadn’t served time in state prison. It wasn’t immediately clear if he may have served time in county jail on the child pornography possession charge from 2012.
Hunt told investigators on Tuesday that he had used a laptop to access and download images and videos of child pornography and that he was sexually attracted to boys as young as 12 years old, the affidavit states.
An on-scene preliminary forensic review of the laptop revealed “at least hundreds of images and videos depicting child pornography,” which were stored in various folders on the computer’s desktop and stored thematically, Squire wrote.
The affidavit does not specifically state how agents were alerted to or became known of Hunt’s alleged use of the dark web for child pornography, but it states they have knowledge he was using it between Nov. 5, 2016 and as recent as last week.
In 2012, Hunt was arrested on a single charge of possession of child pornography.
