ShareThisCOALVILLE, Utah -- The unanswered knock at the home of a couple believed to be downloading child pornography didn't stop police from zeroing in on evidence to link their suspects to the crime.
With one heave, police kicked in the door of the couple's rental home. Armed with a search warrant, police were looking for traces of what computer forensics had revealed: the couple's connection to child pornography.
It was Day Two of a five-day operation sponsored by the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. It resulted in 13 search warrants and four arrest warrants served across Salt Lake, Summit, Weber, Tooele and Duchesne counties.
The operation, which wrapped up Monday, took months of planning and the cooperation of multiple public safety agencies, said Capt. Rhett McQuiston of the task force, an arm of the state attorney general's office.
Its aim: to gather enough evidence to jump-start the process to file charges against those involved in child-pornography rings.
Evidence gathered at the Coalville home included sex videotapes, photos of a naked baby in positions police found concerning, adult toys and other items.
Special Agent David White examined the couple's computer, to which he had already traced an IP address found to be sharing child-pornography files.
The couple's computer, which investigators determined was used to download child pornography off the file-sharing network Gnutella, sat next to a crib with teddy-bear bedding and a stuffed Elmo.
The drill played out at more than a dozen other homes. Often, family members aren't aware their loved one is involved with child pornography until the ICAC team arrives at the front door.
Busting offenders who are in close proximity to children can be rough for police, too. "This stuff is very toxic," McQuiston said of material seized by officers.
The work is disturbing to officers, but also rewarding.
McQuiston said the operation -- one of dozens the ICAC team has conducted since its creation in 2000 -- was successful in stopping people from further exploiting children in pornographic photos.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
