Post by Shuftin on Feb 9, 2007 17:39:13 GMT -5
Fernando Diaz
and Patrick Flanigan
(February 9, 2007) — Livingston County Sheriff John M. York said Thursday he will do everything in his power to dismiss a jail deputy who was charged Wednesday with possessing child pornography.
"He does not belong in law enforcement," York said of Mark A. Cole, 36, of Bronson Avenue, Avon, who faces five felony counts of possessing images of the sexual performance of a child.
A 10-month investigation by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office was launched after a computer containing the images was brought to a Henrietta repair shop last April.
According to court documents, the images included both boys and girls under the age of 16 engaged in sexual activity. A child in one image was described as a toddler.
Ross Aronson, president of the Computer Doctor of Rochester Inc., said he stumbled across the images while performing a data-recovery operation on the computer at the owner's request.
"That means I have to open documents," Aronson said. "I opened some photos, and phew. I knew I had to call 911."
Sheriff's deputies showed up at the store a short time later and seized the computer.
Aronson said he sometimes finds pornographic material on customers' hard drives, but knew right away the images on that computer were illegal.
"Pornography is not illegal. That stuff could be on anybody's computer," he said. "Some people go to Web sites they don't mean to because they spell a word wrong. But this was bad."
Lt. Charles Schirtz of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said the children in the images had been previously identified as victims through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Investigators sifted through about 70,000 images on the computer's hard drive and determined that about 300 might be considered child pornography, but drawing the line where actual children were being victimized can be difficult.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 ruled that certain images that appear to be child pornography, such as computer-generated images or virtual child pornography that does not involve real children, are not punishable by law.
The Internet has greatly expanded access and demand for the images, said Jennifer Lee, program manager for the NCMEC's Child Victim Identification Program, which has identified about 930 children as having been used in pornography.
Schirtz said another computer was seized from Cole's Avon home. Authorities do not believe Cole obtained the images while working at the Livingston County Jail, where he was a corporal.
Cole was arraigned Wednesday night in Henrietta Town Court and remanded to Monroe County Jail, where $5,000 cash bail was posted about 1 a.m. Thursday, Schirtz said.
"It's very discouraging," said an upset York, adding that he was in the process of suspending Cole without pay while the case is examined.
www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070209/NEWS01/702090364/1002/NEWS
and Patrick Flanigan
(February 9, 2007) — Livingston County Sheriff John M. York said Thursday he will do everything in his power to dismiss a jail deputy who was charged Wednesday with possessing child pornography.
"He does not belong in law enforcement," York said of Mark A. Cole, 36, of Bronson Avenue, Avon, who faces five felony counts of possessing images of the sexual performance of a child.
A 10-month investigation by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office was launched after a computer containing the images was brought to a Henrietta repair shop last April.
According to court documents, the images included both boys and girls under the age of 16 engaged in sexual activity. A child in one image was described as a toddler.
Ross Aronson, president of the Computer Doctor of Rochester Inc., said he stumbled across the images while performing a data-recovery operation on the computer at the owner's request.
"That means I have to open documents," Aronson said. "I opened some photos, and phew. I knew I had to call 911."
Sheriff's deputies showed up at the store a short time later and seized the computer.
Aronson said he sometimes finds pornographic material on customers' hard drives, but knew right away the images on that computer were illegal.
"Pornography is not illegal. That stuff could be on anybody's computer," he said. "Some people go to Web sites they don't mean to because they spell a word wrong. But this was bad."
Lt. Charles Schirtz of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said the children in the images had been previously identified as victims through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Investigators sifted through about 70,000 images on the computer's hard drive and determined that about 300 might be considered child pornography, but drawing the line where actual children were being victimized can be difficult.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 ruled that certain images that appear to be child pornography, such as computer-generated images or virtual child pornography that does not involve real children, are not punishable by law.
The Internet has greatly expanded access and demand for the images, said Jennifer Lee, program manager for the NCMEC's Child Victim Identification Program, which has identified about 930 children as having been used in pornography.
Schirtz said another computer was seized from Cole's Avon home. Authorities do not believe Cole obtained the images while working at the Livingston County Jail, where he was a corporal.
Cole was arraigned Wednesday night in Henrietta Town Court and remanded to Monroe County Jail, where $5,000 cash bail was posted about 1 a.m. Thursday, Schirtz said.
"It's very discouraging," said an upset York, adding that he was in the process of suspending Cole without pay while the case is examined.
www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070209/NEWS01/702090364/1002/NEWS