CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee

BY ROSALIO AHUMADA
rahumada@modbee.com
March 20, 2014

During his arraignment hearing Thursday in federal court in Fresno, an Oakdale youth pastor pleaded not guilty to a charge of downloading child pornography.

Tyler David Bliss, 27, of Oakdale is accused of downloading the child porn with computers at his home and his church, where he at times viewed some of the illicit images, according to a federal affidavit.

Bliss was served with a federal arrest warrant and taken away in handcuffs Wednesday afternoon shortly after local prosecutors dropped a state charge of child porn possession.

The following day, a federal grand jury indicted Bliss, charging him with one count of receiving and distributing child pornography, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara McAuliffe scheduled Bliss to return to court June 2 for a pretrial hearing.