Police arrest man for child pornography after tipoff from burglars

[jimmy olsen]

 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/06/us/california-robbery-porn-bust/index.html

By Kim Hutcherson, CNN
updated 11:32 AM EST, Fri October 7, 2011

Police arrest man for child pornography after tipoff from burglars

(CNN) -- A central California man has been arrested for possession of child pornography, thanks to a tip from burglars who robbed the man's property, authorities said.

Last month, a juvenile and a 19-year-old illegally accessed the property of Kraig Stockard, 54, of Delhi, California, according to a statement from Deputy Tom MacKenzie of the Merced County Sheriff's Department. They broke into Stockard's barn and stole about 50 CDs they believed were blank.

Stockard filed a police report on the incident on September 12, according to MacKenzie.

But the young people who stole the CDs were in for a surprise. When they began putting the discs into their computer, they discovered that some of them contained pornographic images of children, the statement said.

Despite having obtained the CDs under decidedly shady circumstances, the pair decided to report Stockard to the police.

A search warrant was served and three more computers and three laptops were taken from Stockard's home, along with several external hard drives. Police said there were thousands of pictures and movies on the CDs -- more than 30 of the 50 discs had child pornography on them.

Investigators said Stockard has been downloading indecent images of children since 2004. He has admitted possessing the pornography on the CDs but has refused to say whether there is pornography on the computers, they said. Stockard was booked for possession of child pornography and posted $25,000 bail.

The two burglar suspects who reported Stockard have not been arrested.

Their case has been sent to the Merced County District Attorney's Office for review. When reached for comment, a press officer told CNN the office could not comment on the case because one of the informants in question is a juvenile.

[Martinus]

Should evidence obtained as a result of a crime be used like this? If so, what prevents the police from using "independent" criminals (burglars, hackers, etc.) to obtain evidence against people they would not be otherwise able to get?

[Siege]

Death penalty!

[Josquius]

Wonder how the kids reported it.

[Eddie Teach]

The two burglar suspects who reported Stockard have not been arrested.

Big Brother loves snitches.

[The Brain]

What a mess.

[Josephus]

Yeah...wonder about the legal ramifications of this one.

[Neil]

I would imagine he'll escape punishment.

[DGuller]

Doesn't the fruity poison thingy apply here?

[ulmont]

DG - no.  The fourth amendment only applies when the state - itself or through other agents - acts.  If the cops had told the burglars to go raid this guy, there might be a problem.  As it stand ls though he's pretty screwed.

[Martinus]

DG - no.  The fourth amendment only applies when the state - itself or through other agents - acts.  If the cops had told the burglars to go raid this guy, there might be a problem.  As it stand ls though he's pretty screwed.

Considering these burglars are going to escape punishment, surely you can see how this can be abused by the state, right?

What's next? A bunch of thugs beating up a guy torturing some confession out of him, and then going to the police to report that, resulting in them going free and he getting jailed? Or hackers breaking into a bank's files, stealing a lot of shit and finding evidence of wrongdoing, which they report to the police and go free. This is a pretty fucked up precedent, if it holds up.

[DGuller]

Or, imagine you're a mafia hit man.  As you break into the home and are putting .22 rounds into the victim's head, you notice that his daughter is downloading pirated software.  You report it to police, and get away with murder while the daughter is locked up.

[Neil]

Or, imagine you're a mafia hit man.  As you break into the home and are putting .22 rounds into the victim's head, you notice that his daughter is downloading pirated software.  You report it to police, and get away with murder while the daughter is locked up.

I don't think they lock you up for pirated software, even in a country with as fucked-up a legal system as the US.

[DGuller]

OK, the daughter is smoking pot instead of pirating software.

[ulmont]

In your parade of horribles, you overlook that most crimes would not be given a pass here.