A Davenport man has been charged in federal court with possession of child pornography after police say he downloaded hundreds of sexually explicit videos on a home computer.

William A. Phares, no age given in court records, of 410 Betsy Ross Place No. 3, Davenport, made an initial appearance Wednesday in the Davenport branch of the U.S. District Court for Southern Iowa. He was still being detained Thursday, pending a preliminary hearing on Monday.

The charges stem from an incident on Feb. 5, 2011, in which law enforcement officers discovered underage pornographic videos that were linked to the IP address at Mr. Phare's residence, according to an affidavit filed by U.S. Secret Service Agent William Shink.

Davenport police searched the residence on Sept. 8, 2011, and seized a laptop computer which contained additional videos, according to records. During an interview with police that day, the affidavit states that Mr. Phares showed officers several sexually explicit terms he had searched for online.

"William A. Phares estimated he has downloaded hundreds of childpornography videos, but claimed that he deleted them after he saw whatthey were," the affidavit states.

Mr. Phares told police that he had downloaded the videos out of "curiosity," despite knowing it was illegal, but denied feeling sexually attracted to children, according to the affidavit.