City police officer target of child porn probe
State investigating unnamed Rutland officer's computers for child pornography
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Rutland District Court Judge Thomas Zonay discusses unsealing a search warrant executed at the Rutland City police station with attorney Matt Harnett on Tuesday. Harnett is the attorney for the unnamed police officer at the center of the investigation. Vyto Starinskas / Rutland Herald |
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By Brent Curtis Staff Writer - Published: February 10, 2010
A Rutland City police officer is under investigation after evidence of child pornography was found on his work computers.
A 31-page warrant and accompanying affidavit released Tuesday revealed that much but not the identity of the officer, whose name was redacted at least temporarily by order of a Rutland District Court judge.
(Read the court documents and related stories by clicking on the links to the right.)
Less than a week after the Rutland Herald asked for the warrant, which was executed at the city police department in September, Judge Thomas Zonay followed through Tuesday with his order to make the contents public while withholding the officer's name to consider a pending motion that his identity be permanently sealed.
What Zonay did release revealed a state police investigation overseen by the Attorney General's office which began in August, after technicians working on a laptop issued to the unidentified officer found on it images of what appeared to be child pornography.
The officer told computer technicians in the department that he was searching online for information about hidden cameras and police videos when pornographic images began "popping up" on the machine, which stopped working altogether soon thereafter, according to state police Detective Sgt. Jason Letourneau. The officer under investigation told police the incident occurred while he was on duty.
Further analysis of the computer revealed 150 possible images of child pornography, Letourneau wrote, which were all added to the computer in a 13-minute time span on July 23. The detective said he also found more than 100 pornographic files of adult subjects.
In a search of the officer's desktop computer, investigators found more cause for concern, including files created for a media player that seem to refer to children's ages through characters such as Y11 YRLD and Y11 next to sexually explicit labels.
In an interview with state police, the city officer under investigation at first said he was simply researching clip-on video cameras for use in the field when pornographic images began swamping his computer.
But Letourneau said he and another investigator didn't believe that account.
"We further explained that the evidence collected during the examination of the computer clearly reveals that he visited pornographic Web sites, that they did not just pop up on his screen," he wrote. "(The officer) then told us that he may have clicked on a few adult pornographic websites not knowing they were pornographic websites. We again explained that the titles of the Web sites he visited were clearly pornographic by the titles alone."
Letourneau wrote that the officer eventually admitted to purposely visiting the pornographic sites, but he told investigators the visits were for research into the clip-on cameras he was seeking — not to view pornographic material.
"He said he visited the pornographic Web site to see what type of cameras they used," the detective wrote. "He later advised he also wanted to see what angle the cameras were used and the quality of the images/videos."
A search warrant executed at the department on Sept. 22 seized evidence from the officer's desk, locker and other belongings at the department.
Among other things, police seized a rack of 20 pornographic DVDs, four VHS tapes listed with pornographic titles, three DVDs identified as "teen porn" and a DVD titled "midget porn."
Since the warrant was executed no charges have been brought, but Assistant Attorney General John Treadwell said Tuesday the criminal investigation is continuing.
Treadwell argued last week against the Herald's request to unseal the search warrant, which was closed to the public upon its return to Orleans District Court on Sept. 29.
In the information released by the court on Tuesday, Zonay said Treadwell argued in a written motion and in a closed-door hearing on Feb. 3 that releasing the contents of the warrant would jeopardize the criminal investigation.
"The state asserted that the investigation is ongoing and that investigators have continued to interview individuals with knowledge of the matter as well as to investigate the suspect's home Internet use," Zonay wrote. "(Treadwell) further sets forth that the state has attempted to obtain probable cause to obtain additional warrants. It also asserts the investigators wish to again speak with the suspect concerning the findings they made since they last spoke with him and that any disclosure of certain information in the warrant records would impede the investigation."
In particular, the judge wrote that investigators want to locate a removable media component — such as a disc or memory stick — used on the officer's computer, which is one of the missing links in the investigation.
However, in his analysis, the judge wrote that there was no reason to believe that keeping the documents sealed would aid attempts to uncover physical evidence in the case.
"There is … no basis for the court to conclude that this will be any more likely than it was over the past four months when such evidence has not been brought forth, nor that unsealing will somehow hamper the possibility of discovering the evidence," he wrote.
But while the judge found no harm in releasing the documents, Zonay decided Tuesday to withhold the officer's name and identifying information until he had a chance to consider arguments made by Rutland attorney Matthew Harnett, who argued in court that his client — the officer under investigation who was identified during the hearing as "John Doe" — would suffer irreparable harm if his name was included.
"The subject matter itself is dynamite — the most stigmatizing of all types of charges. Once published, his reputation would be ruined," Harnett said, adding that his client has not been charged with a crime.
But the Herald's attorney, Robert Hemley of Gravel & Shea in Burlington, said the public interest in a transparent government and judicial system outweighed the privacy interests of John Doe.
"The public has a big interest in knowing what the operations of the police are," he said. "How are we to monitor the operations of the government? We need the press to inform us about both sides."
Zonay said he would issue a decision after considering the arguments.
brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
The warrant is below:
Warrent -