From Mirror staff reports

A tip received through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline led police to a Google account registered to Eric Daniel Palmer, the suspended executive director of the Career and Technology Center of Greater Altoona, according to documents filed in the case.

Palmer, 40, of Indiana, Pa., faces 10 counts of child pornography and one count of felony use of a communication device, according to filings. The charges were filed Friday by state police in Indiana County.

According to online court records, Palmer was released on $50,000 unsecured bail and is awaiting a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 5 at 1:45 p.m. before District Judge Anthony Sottile III.

The Career and Technology Center posted on its website that “GACTC takes the allegations seriously and has taken appropriate action in the meantime. GACTC will cooperate fully with any investigation.”

While Palmer was added to the school’s employee directory as executive director effective Tuesday afternoon, Assistant Executive Director Nicole Zernick will serve as interim director, according to the center’s statement.

The probable cause statement lays out the case against Palmer, showing that Google generated the report in May of this year after alleged child pornography was discovered on a user’s account.

Google reported that eight child sexual abuse files were uploaded/shared/saved. One of the files shows a female victim between the ages of 4-8, completely naked on a couch with her genitals exposed, according to the investigating officer.

Google provided the user’s name, phone number, date of birth and email address, as well as the IP address and file name of the image labeled as child pornography.

On July 10, police served an administrative subpoena on Comcast, noting that the IP address was traced back to Palmer, court documents show.

Police obtained a search warrant on Sept. 4 and executed it the next day at Palmer’s Church Street residence in Indiana.

Palmer, who agreed to speak to police, said his Gmail account was “killed” by Google several months ago, saying his account was flagged for sexual exploitation or child pornography when he uploaded all his files to Google Drive.

Palmer told police that he had never encountered child pornography online and that no such files would be saved or deleted on his devices. He also said that there will be no hidden apps or hidden files on his device.

Police seized several devices belonging to Palmer, and after they were entered into evidence, they were forensically analyzed by the state police Southwest Computer Crime Unit Lab.

The crime unit’s analysis revealed “multiple child pornography files” on Palmer’s desktop computer — in a hidden folder on the computer, as well as in several other locations, the report said. Deleted files of child pornography were also found on the computer as well as two external hard drives that belonged to Palmer, court documents state.

One of those image files depicts a fully nude female victim between the ages of 10 and 12, investigators said.