SOMERSET, Ky. (WKYT) - What started as a tip from one of his friends, police say, soon led to a much bigger discovery.

Tonight a former Somerset city employee now faces federal charges after police say they found many images and videos of child pornography in his home.

Somerset police and FBI agents arrested Eric Whitson, 35, on Wednesday afternoon at his Cooper Drive home following a two-week joint investigation.

According to police a male adult friend noticed what he believed to be a video camera installed in Whitson's bathroom, "positioned in an inappropriate place"

That complaint led to a search warrant being executed at the assistant parks director's home. According to police that search uncovered a hidden camera in the bathroom.

According to Kentucky state law, it is illegal to take video surveillance of an individual in a place of “expected privacy” such as a bathroom or bedroom.

Officers and detectives also searched through hours of VHS tapes, DVDs, and CD-ROMs and found images suspected to be child pornography.

Whitson is charged with; Promotion of Child Pornography, Receipt of Child Pornography. He is being held without bond at the Laurel County Jail where he declined WKYT's request for an interview.