Scott Messenger, who works for Johnson Space Center, is on unpaid administrative leave, according to NASA.

HOUSTON — A NASA employee has been charged with five counts of child porn, according to court records.

Scott Roger Messenger, 50, who NASA confirmed is an employee at Johnson Space Center, has been placed on unpaid administrative leave. He was arrested July 23 but has since made bond.

Court documents say on April 6, 2018, a search warrant was served to Messenger's home after an investigation revealed the he possessed child porn and shared hundreds of child porn images from his computer.

Police said Messenger admitted that he used a specific software to download adult porn and said he has seen child porn before because he accidentally downloaded it. He told police he deleted those images.

Police reviewed the forensic results from Messenger's computer and the report showed approximately eight obvious child porn images and hundreds of child erotica images were downloaded, but most were deleted.

Police also discovered that Messenger had anti-forensic software on his computer and he would delete explicit search terms using the software.

The district attorney's office charged Messenger with two counts of possession of child porn and three counts of possession with intent to promote child porn.

His next court date is scheduled for September 18.