The co-inventor of the Squatty Potty — as soon as featured on the ABC hit present “Shark Tank” — faces fees of allegedly receiving sexually express photos of a kid, in response to a Monday launch from the Justice Division saying an unsealed indictment in opposition to the enterprise proprietor.
Federal authorities arrested 50-year-old Robert Edwards of Ivins, Utah, earlier this month after a four-and-a-half 12 months investigation confirmed that he allegedly and knowingly acquired a number of photos of kid sexual abuse materials (CSAM), in response to the DOJ launch.
Edwards first got here to the feds’ consideration again in March 2021, when an undercover FBI agent joined a gaggle chat used to commerce CSAM and famous that individuals seen abuse movies streaming on the chat’s essential display, the DOJ stated. The agent famous that individuals had been seen through the assembly, together with a person later recognized as Edwards.
As well as, FBI brokers suspected final Could that Edwards was buying CSAM through PayPal, which led them to execute a search warrant in November.
In the course of the search, brokers seized a cellular phone from Edwards’ car that contained what the DOJ described as “a number of movies and pictures of kid sexual abuse materials, a few of which downloaded onto the cellular phone simply two weeks earlier than the search warrant was executed.”
Authorities discovered extra CSAM recordsdata through the search of Edwards’s residence. He was arrested Feb. 12 and pleaded not responsible to a cost of receipt of kid pornography.
His subsequent courtroom date is Monday in St. George, Utah.
JHB reached out to Edwards’s lawyer, however nobody instantly responded.
Edwards is greatest identified to “Shark Tank” followers because the co-creator of Squatty Potty, a stool that props up the legs to supposedly ease bowel actions.
Edwards and his mother ― who’s the co-inventor ― made a take care of Shark Lori Greiner in November 2014 that led to the product ultimately reaching whole lifetime retail gross sales exceeding $260 million.
JHB reached out to Greiner, who reportedly owns 20% of Squatty Potty, for remark, however nobody instantly responded.