GLENWOOD SPRINGS – A Glenwood Springs convicted sex offender accused of possessing more than 1,000 items of child pornography was formally charged with five felonies Wednesday in Garfield County District Court.

Christopher Earl Carlyle, 33, was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a child – selling or publishing, a class-three felony; and four additional felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child – video.

A judge granted Carlyle a continuance at an arraignment hearing Thursday, because he is seeking private counsel to represent him in this case.

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He remains in custody without bond on a parole violation hold, because he was reportedly on parole for a 2008 conviction of sexual crimes against a minor.

Carlyle’s parole status restricted him from having a personal computer at home, as well as possessing sexually explicit material.

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Garfield County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Carlyle outside of his workplace in Glenwood Springs on March 10, after investigators allegedly discovered more than 1,000 sexually explicit photos of children on his employer’s computer. Deputies also found printouts and videos of the same type of material at his residence, according to information released by the sheriff’s office at the time of his arrest.

Carlyle was the focus of an investigation by the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children conducted a background investigation into allegations of Carlyle visiting websites of sexually explicit material.

That investigation stemmed from an audit of Carlyle’s e-mail accounts, at his work, by his employer’s Internet service provider, which noticed several hits on sites that contained sexually explicit material.

Carlyle is due back in court in May.

jgardner@postindependent.com