MONROE — Cash bond for a defendant accused of having child pornographic material involving alleged victims as young as two was set at $25,000 Monday, as the defendant in the case made his first appearance in Green County Circuit Court.

The charge against Jose Alfredo Pena Lopez, 37, of Monroe, stemmed from local police follow-up on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to court records. As a result, he is accused of downloading and transmitting pornographic images of very young children on popular social media and messaging apps.

The national tip eventually led to a search warrant, and several devices were collected by police at the defendant’s workplace — allegedly revealing even more illicit images suspected to be child porn.

“Based on the female’s overall appearance and lack of mature features in the face, hands and arms, I estimate her age to be approximately 6 to 8 years old,” said one investigator, after reviewing some of the material in the criminal complaint.

Police found out early in their investigation that the defendant, a local dairy worker, had been going by the name Alfredo in his communications related to the devices and accounts containing the videos.

“It was discovered that the cell phone number associated with the WhatsApp account used to send or receive the child sexual abuse material was located in (Resident 3)’s phone as a contact with the name “ALFREDO,” police said in the criminal complaint. “Please note ALFREDO was identified as the subject reported to live at the residence but was currently working at (a local dairy)”.

Lopez, who appeared in court via video and a Spanish-language interpreter, is charged with 10 felony counts in the criminal complaint: Three counts of sexual exploitation of a child, and seven counts of possession of child pornography (lifetime supervision as a sex offender). If convicted, just one of the possession of child porn charges carries a maximum possible prison sentence of 25 years.

The investigation prompted an exhaustive review of computer files from multiple sources and devices linked to the defendant and his accounts.

“Upon beginning my review, I observed thousands of files, both photographs and videos, that were pornographic in nature,” the police investigator said at one point in the complaint. “I noted that 1,362 files were flagged as ‘Evidence’ due to them being determined to possibly contain (suspected child porn) during the processing completed by DCI.”

During Monday’s hearing, Circuit Judge Faun M. Phillipson said she was reluctant to allow the defendant to walk free pending trial on a signature bond — as suggested by the public defender, Jane Krueger Smith, acting on the defendant’s behalf for bond purposes only.

District Attorney Craig Nolen argued for a high cash bond based on the “nature and number of offenses,” and Phillipson agreed, adding a number of additional restrictions on the defendant’s behavior, should he be able to post bond.

“In the state’s opinion, the strength of the evidence is (quite) strong,” Nolen said.

Lopez is scheduled to appear in court again at 9:30 a.m. August 17 for a preliminary hearing.