Springfield man denies child porn charges

An investigation that began in cyberspace led to the arrest of a Springfield man on multiple counts of possessing child pornography.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141204/NEWS02/712049838

Published December 4, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Springfield man denies child porn charges By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — An investigation that began in cyberspace led to the arrest of a Springfield man on multiple counts of possessing child pornography. Tyler Goodrich, 32, pleaded innocent Tuesday to four felony counts of possessing child pornography. He was released from White River Junction criminal court on the conditions that he not contact anyone under age 16 and that he not “access or loiter in places where children are congregating.” Detective Robert Snetsinger, an investigator with the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said in his affidavit that in May he began searching through a file-sharing network where child porn has been shared in the past. He said his investigation turned up an Internet address in Vermont that appeared to be making available several video files of children available for viewing. The titles of some of the files suggested that they had been filmed in Russia, Snetsinger said. He recognized some of them as “child sexual exploitation material” that had been previously catalogued by police in investigations around the world. After tracing the Internet address with the help of a subpoena to a telephone company, Snetsinger said, detectives went to Goodrich’s home in Springfield in July and asked him about his computer usage. Snetsinger said Goodrich initially denied seeing the child images and then said it might have been “inadvertent.” He eventually admitted he had been downloading and viewing videos on and off for nearly a year out of “curiosity,” the affidavit said. Police seized several computers and an external hard drive. Snetsinger said investigators found evidence of deleted child porn files. Goodrich said last month he “downloaded and deleted child pornography files multiple times,” the detective said. “Goodrich claimed the reason he deleted them was because they made him ‘feel bad’ and it wasn’t because he was afraid of being caught,” Snetsinger wrote. Goodrich, who does not have any previous criminal history, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of all four charges.