FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A Fargo man, who is currently registered as a sex offender, is being arraigned for allegedly possessing child sex abuse materials.
The investigation goes back to December 17, 2024 where Reddit, an internet discussion website, located multiple files of these child sex abuse materials shared. This happened on October 8 and 19 of 2024 from two separate accounts, but the same IP address. The suspect account from the October 8 post is from username, ‘bugtank83′. The other username of note is ‘bugtank2024′.
Reddit provided eight files with seven of them depicting children ages five to fifteen nude or engaging in sexual acts. Through the investigation, it was discovered that the IP address came through as Shallan Rooney, the wife of Patrick Rooney, who is the suspect. Shallan’s phone was searched and found no material or the Reddit app.
Patrick Rooney was a registered sex offender and currently on supervised probation. Through the examination, Patrick’s phone number and date of birth matched with the reddit users making these posts and chats. A search warrant was issued for additional information where examiners found chats about trading pictures as well as discussing “young” according to court docs. The data contained over 100 files depicting girls in their teens or early 20s.
There were also eight images that contained specific backgrounds that matched the home of Rooney including explicit pictures of a man. Authorities issued a search warrant in late February where an interview with Patrick was conducted. He confirmed that ‘bugtank’ was a common online username that he would use. Patrick would then request to speak to an attorney before answering more questions.
Through examination of data from Patrick’s devices, no explicit images were found of children engaging in sexual acts. Through more examination, Patrick’s phone showed 215 searches for the term ‘bugtank83′ and 230 searches for ‘bugtank2024′.
According to court documents, it is believed that Patrick Rooney is responsible for possessing and sharing these images. Patrick’s next hearing is scheduled for October 1.
