This post was provided by News Now Warsaw
By Jackie Gorski
Times-Union
WARSAW — A Warsaw man was arrested after allegedly taking a picture of someone undressing at a local store where he worked and having child pornography images on his phone.
Rockland Alan Coleman, 21, of 3762 W. Old 30, #700, Warsaw, is charged with possession of child pornography, a level 5 felony; and voyeurism, a class A misdemeanor. He was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on Tuesday on a $5,250 preliminary bond.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on June 16 Kosciusko County Central Dispatch advised law enforcement a male employee at an area business, later identified as Coleman, was allegedly recording a female changing clothes in a fitting room.
A Warsaw Police officer responded to the scene and spoke to the victim. The victim said they were trying on bathing suits in the fitting room, looked down and saw a phone underneath the wall that separates the fitting room stalls. The victim saw their body on the phone screen, screamed and saw Coleman exit the stall beside them with his phone in his hand.
The officer spoke with a witness who said they were in a fitting room, heard the victim scream and saw Coleman exit the fitting room stall next to the victim.
The officer spoke with Coleman, who said he was clearing clothes from the fitting room stalls and was removing a pair of pants in a stall. Coleman said the victim “saw motion, assumed it was a phone and started screaming.” Coleman said he removed his phone from his pocket when he exited the stall to text his girlfriend about what happened. The officer seized Coleman’s phone.
On June 17, a search warrant was obtained to complete a forensic download on Coleman’s phone. On June 25, a WPD detective transported the phone to the St. Joseph County Cyber Crimes Unit to conduct the forensic download.
On July 2, the St. Joseph County Cyber Crimes Unit told the detective that during the forensic download of Coleman’s phone, child sexual abuse material was located. The detective said to stop analyzing the phone at that time.
On July 9, the detective obtained a search warrant that expanded the scope of the search on Coleman’s phone to include the offense of child pornography. The St. Joseph County Cyber Crimes Unit completed the forensic download on Coleman’s phone.
On July 17, the detective reviewed the forensic download report for Coleman’s phone and saw that 264 files (195 images and 69 videos) were associated with child sexual abuse material. The 264 files included images of prepubescent children that appeared in age from 7 to 12 in sexual poses or engaged in sexual acts.
On July 22, the detective read Coleman his Miranda rights and Coleman agreed to talk to law enforcement. Coleman admitted on June 16 that he used his phone to take a photo from under the changing room partition. Coleman said his intention was to see the victim in their underwear or lingerie, but he only saw the victim’s leg. Coleman said he deleted the image after the victim screamed.
The detective asked Coleman about the nude images of minors on his phone. Coleman shook his head in the affirmative. Coleman said he was curious and first found images through a social media platform where he clicked a link and was diverted to an app. Coleman said there were images he previewed for free but to see more images, he’d have to pay for them. Coleman said he never purchased images.
Coleman said he didn’t know the link would redirect him to child pornography. He said he viewed the images out of curiosity. He agreed 264 files of child sexual abuse material located on his phone was consistent with the number of files he viewed.
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