HOUSTON – The digital history of a newly purchased cellphone led officers to a man they say not only was downloading child pornography, but was inappropriately touching an 8-year-old girl.
Daniel Garcia, 20, was charged with three counts of possession of child pornography.
In July 2014, a woman called police to report that she found disturbing images of children on a phone she had just purchased.
The woman said she bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from a Pagetel store on Antoine Drive and asked the employee to transfer her old information and pictures to her new phone. But after driving home, the woman only saw a few of her pictures, but many pictures of naked children. She then called police.
A digital forensic investigator reviewed the phone and found hundreds of graphic images of children, some who appeared to be as young as 4 years old, in sexually explicit situations.
Investigators contacted the phone service provider who provided them with a list of previous subscribers. Garcia was one of the subscribers and there was a picture in the phone that matched his Texas driver's license.
When investigators questioned Garcia, he allegedly admitted to previously owning the phone, but said it had been stolen. He also admitted that the images and downloads were his, and that he has been viewing child pornography since he was 12 years old, investigators said.
His arrest shocked neighbors.
"He is a nice young man," Margie McDonald said. "It is going to surprise my grandson, too, because they were close."
Investigators say after further investigation, they learned Garcia had also been inappropriately touching an 8-year-old girl since she was in kindergarten.