BANGOR (AP) – A Houlton man who is believed to be the first person in Maine to face federal charges of using a cell phone to possess child pornography is being held in the Penobscot County Jail while awaiting a detention hearing.

Joshua Dunston, 27, a convicted sex offender and former student at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on Jan. 31.

Dunston is accused of using his T-Mobile cell phone account to post 30 photos that appeared to depict sexual exploitation of children to a personal Web page. He also allegedly posted pornographic photographs of himself to the site.

T-Mobile notified federal law enforcement officials after discovering the images last summer during a routine audit of customer accounts.

Dunston used computers at UMPI’s Outreach Center to access his T-Mobile Web page, according to court documents. University officials provided investigators with hard drives from the computers and surveillance video of Dunston at the center.

The charges come amid warnings that advances in technology will enable child pornographers to use hand-held devices such as cell phones, personal data assistants and portable MP3-type players to take and transfer images of child pornography.

“Everything’s going to be in the size of a (cellular) telephone that has the computer power of the best PCs that are out there right now,” Detective Sgt. Paul Gillespie of the Toronto Police force’s sex crimes unit told an international conference last October.

Dunston’s criminal record, which dates back to 2001, includes violating conditions of release, negotiating a worthless instrument, possession of sexually explicit materials and sexual abuse of a minor.