Alleged Child Pornography: When Should Police Intervene?

Alleged Child Pornography: When Should Police Intervene?

The arrest on March 29 of a middle school assistant wrestling coach at Moses Brown School in Providence for possession of child pornography and extortion has stirred up questions about when authorities should notify people or institutions about their suspicions that such a crime is taking place.

If you want easy answers, there may not be any. 

GoLocalProv was made aware of the concerns of some Moses Brown parents after the arrest.  The families had heard that the administration was unaware that the accused, 21-year old Joseph Simone of North Providence, was a suspect in any investigation, never mind one involving the possession of photos of naked boys and his alleged threat to at least one young man that he would release nude photos of him unless he continued to provide them to Simone.

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Furthering the post-incident anxiety was the fact that published reports said that the state police investigation had been going on for three months.  Why weren’t Moses Brown officials told about a suspected criminal this morally repugnant and dangerous?

Too-Close Contact

Especially so, one would say, when it involves a wrestling coach.  An athletic mentor who above and beyond many other familiar school sports – baseball, soccer, basketball, football – is often in close, direct physical contact with the young men he is coaching.  [Simone also worked at Capital City Wrestling, a club that offers wrestling instruction to students from first through 12th grade, and used the Moses Brown wrestling room for its classes.]

Moses Brown officials would not comment directly on the case, with director of communications Sandi Seltzer saying only, “Our focus now is taking care of our kids and families, and trying to work through this.”  Repeated phone calls and an e-mail by GoLocalProv to Linda Doberstein, identified by school officials as president of the Moses Brown Parents Association, received no response. 

Through the Eyes of the State Police

Now look at the situation through the eyes of a state police investigator, Capt. James O. Demers.  He said that the school was notified “at the appropriate time,” which turned out to be the morning of the arrest, despite the fact the official investigation began back in December.  That is when a parent alerted the state police about their son’s Internet contacts with someone he thought was teenage girl. It was a ruse Simone used with other mid-teen boys. 

As Demers describes the process, the caution used in letting word of an ongoing investigation spread becomes a bit clearer, if one hopes to be able to legally apprehend the suspect.

Computer Is Analyzed

After getting a judge in Rhode Island to sign for a search warrant to find the source of the correspondence to the youth identified by his parents, “We were rushing to get administrative subpoena power” for the computer IP server (e.g. Yahoo), said Demers. “It takes time.”  

This company can be located in another state, where the case of a Rhode Island police officer may not be paramount among the judge’s concerns.

The police then take the computer to their analysts where the can of worms appears in tracking down and identifying the perpetrator.  “It’s trickier with wireless,” said Demers, where the originating server may be in a public place – a library or coffee shop - accessible to almost anyone.

‘We were not at a point where we could notify Moses Brown that the person was at such-and-such an address,” said Demers, explaining why the investigation was still being kept under wraps.  

Even when an address is finally solidly identified, another problem arises.  “You could have five people living at that address.  Who knows whose computer it is?”

Demers said that in most cases where there are multiple people at an address where the smoking gun computer sits, “Believe it or not, the majority of guilty people will say, ‘It’s me,' rather than try to give someone else up.”

Fortunately for the police, the only person living at the same address as Simone was his mother when the police arrived.

“Most people won’t give up their mother,” Demers said dryly, in describing their arrest of Simone.

New Investigations Arise

Demers reported that police located the computer in the house, opened it up and immediately saw pictures “of children unclothed – enough for us to seize it.”  While the Simone pornography case may be over, Demers said, “I think the whole thing may well be a long investigation.”

“You see these boys (on the computer), you’ll want to find out where they are (through further Internet tracking) and i.d. them, which means more search warrants…” Demers said, and the steps for new investigations begin again from the top.

Making a Hard Decision

Knowing the overall circumstances makes what is the “right” decision - to disclose or not disclose information to a school or community while an investigation is underway - very difficult;  especially if the suspect remains in such close contact with boys almost identical to the ones he is pursuing.  A slip of the lip from anyone who knows about the police’s suspicions about a certain person could end up with a "dirty" computer hard drive jettisoned in a Dumpster, and a predator escaping justice.

How much were Simone’s protégés and their friends at Moses Brown and Capital City Wrestling at immediate risk? How important is it to guarantee a child pornographer is apprehended, convicted and taken off the street?

A tough decision for anyone.  The state police get paid to make them.

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