from www.kansascity.com – A south Kansas City man allegedly used sedative-laced ice cream to drug young girls and pose them for pornographic pictures, according to court documents.

Images of at least eight girls who appeared to be unconscious were found by investigators after they seized a computer from the home of James Phillip “Phil” Edwards, federal prosecutors revealed in court documents. Some of the images were contained in a file entitled “Consuming the date rape drug.”

A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted Edwards, 60, on charges of advertising, possessing and attempting to distribute child pornography. The indictment replaces a criminal complaint filed last week against Edwards after authorities searched his home and arrested him.

Police and prosecutors declined to say how many potential victims there were or how Edwards had gained access to them. Officials said the investigation was ongoing.

Kansas City police said they believed that all of the victims had been accounted for and that their current “safety has been confirmed.”

Edwards told investigators that he did not believe he had done anything wrong, federal prosecutors said in a motion seeking to have him detained pending trial.

“His view is that society places arbitrary lines (as in age restrictions) around sexual conduct, with which he doesn’t agree,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Fincham wrote in the motion.

In arguing for detention, Fincham stated that Edwards admitted to victimizing multiple minors.

“By his own admission, the defendant has been a danger to the community, unchecked, for years,” she wrote.

At a hearing last week in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Edwards was ordered held without bond.

Assistant federal defender Travis Poindexter, who was appointed to represent Edwards, said he could not comment.

According to the court documents, Edwards’ wife and other family members were unaware of any alleged illegal activity.

Edwards’ wife of 22 years, who asked in an interview that she not be named because of her job, said the pictures referred to in the court documents could have only been taken during a “relatively short period of time” about three or four years ago.

In order to protect the privacy of those girls, she declined to say how her husband knew them.

She said her husband formerly worked as a computer programmer and was now collecting disability payments from Social Security.

If the allegations are true, she said, “It wouldn’t have happened if I had any inkling of it.”

According to court documents, the investigation began in May when an FBI agent in Oklahoma City using an online file-sharing program downloaded several images of child pornography. Investigators traced the source of the images to a computer registered to Edwards and obtained a search warrant for his house.

A subsequent inspection of the computer revealed the date-rape video file that showed three girls being given drinks and ice cream before they are shown apparently unconscious, the court documents state. Edwards allegedly is seen at several points in the video.

A second file labeled “Phil’s kindergarten class ages 4-7” is described as a collage of three photographs depicting five girls who appear to be asleep.

After his arrest, Edwards gave a videotaped statement in which he said he had given Ambien to “multiple minor girls” ranging in age from 6 to 12, the prosecution’s motion alleges.

Ambien is a sedative used to treat insomnia. Among side effects are amnesia, dizziness and hallucinations. Children with attention deficit disorder are particularly vulnerable to suffering hallucinations, according to information published about the medication.

Prosecutors also noted that a second case involving distribution and receipt of child pornography — unrelated to the investigation that led to Wednesday’s indictment — is being pursued by another, unidentified law enforcement agency.