He had a business with his girlfriend who had 2 children by a previous marriage. They took photographs of people having weddings, anniversaries, and special occasions. Their equipment consisted of a camera connected to a computer. Once the camera was activated there was a short delay and then three shots were taken automatically in 1-2 second intervals. These were then captured in the computer. When the girlfriend was testing the equipment in her bedroom, her two young boys were running around naked in the room. Having activated the camera the woman left the room. Upon her return she saw on the computer that the camera had captured the boys clowning on the bed. She deleted the pictures. Later a disgruntled employee of the business found the pictures in the deleted files and turned the computer over to the police. A detective interviewed the mother. She told the detective exactly what had occurred. The detective chose not to turn his tape recorder on until the interview was nearly over – omitting the mother’s account of how the pictures had been taken by her. With no record of the woman’s statement the detective was free to indict the woman’s boyfriend on child pornography charges. He did so by testifying under oath the woman had told him she had not taken the pictures. Sexual exploitation charges were filed against the boyfriend and it took over a year to convince the prosecutor to dismiss the case. Had he been convicted he would have faced a 48-year mandatory prison sentence. The detective remains free to continue lying to grand juries.
