Man to face trial on child pornography charges

A judge Wednesday found there was enough evidence to try a Carson City man on child porn charges.

Justice of the Peace Robey Willis bound over Christopher Nelson, 20, on three counts of attempted possession of child porn and one count of possession of child porn following an afternoon of testimony during Nelson's preliminary hearing.

According to prosecution witness Renee Cote, live-in boyfriend Nelson, already on probation for a juvenile charge, was allegedly acting suspiciously on July 19 when he was on the computer. Cote mentioned this to her mother, who called Nelson's probation officer. Cote said the probation officer warned her Nelson might have an affinity for child porn and suggested Cote look at her computer.

"I ended up finding two incomplete downloads of child porn," she said. Cote said she was certain Nelson was responsible for the porn videos because, "besides me, he was the only one who used it."

But on cross-examination by public defender Paul Giese, Cote admitted her two sisters also used the computer.

"Both my sisters have kids, why would they be doing that?" She asked.

"Did you see him download it?" Giese asked.

"No," Cote said.

"Did he tell you he did it?" Giese asked.

"No," said Cote.

"Then how do you know it was him?" he finished.

"I don't," she said.

A computer forensic analyst from Arizona testified he reviewed the computer hard drive and was able to find three downloaded videos with titles that contained the words "preteen gay 12 year old," "Illegal preteen underage Lolita kiddy," and "Lolita kiddy preteen, tiny children sex."

David Klopp said the three videos were never viewed by the computer owner, but Klopp was able to view them and none of them contained child porn.

In summation, Chief Deputy District Attorney Anne Langer noted the video titles indicated children would be portrayed in sexual acts and that was enough under Nevada law to warrant the charge.

Klopp also testified he allegedly found evidence that three pictures had been downloaded and deleted, each with names similar to the videos, and at least one suggesting it contained a picture of a 13-year-old child. Klopp said he was unable to retrieve those images and did not know what they contained.

During an interview with Detective Dena Lacy, however, Nelson initially denied looking at child porn, but then allegedly admitted to viewing and deleting a pornographic picture involving a 13-year-old child.

Throughout the 40-minute audio recording played in court, Nelson repeatedly denied he was sexually attracted to children and instead characterized his interest as curiosity.

"It just makes me curious how kids can have sex at such an early age," he said.

Nelson remains in custody on $10,000 bail.

• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.