Chubbuck man accused of downloading child porn
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CHUBBUCK — A 37-year-old man was arrested and sent to the Bannock County jail after being charged with multiple felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
Kurtis Zane Nelson is facing 11 felonies for incidents that happened in April. The case against him was filed on July 1.
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced on Tuesday that investigators with his Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Unit arrested Nelson on June 30.
The Chubbuck Police Department, Idaho Falls Police Department, Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office, Idaho State Police and Homeland Security Investigations helped the ICAC Unit with the arrest.
According to court documents, on May 3, investigators with ICAC received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The detective received the report, which contained 13 pictures of child pornography.
Upon investigative work, the detective found Nelson was linked to the pictures. The pictures showed children from ages 3 to at least 15 years old.
Idaho State Police stopped Nelson last week while he was driving home to Chubbuck from Soda Springs after work. ISP transported him to the ISP office in Pocatello, and a search warrant was conducted at his home.
During an interview with a detective, Nelson admitted to downloading the images. Documents said he accessed them using his phone and then used the screenshot function to save the images. He said he then moved the images to an encrypted and hidden file on his phone.
In documents, Nelson said he did not search for the images, and they just started appearing as he searched and viewed other legal pornography. Nelson said that he kept the images to show to the police and encrypted them so no one else would be able to view them.
“Kurtis never reported them to the police,” documents stated.
Nelson was given a $20,000 bond and has since posted it. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on July 11 at 1:30 p.m in Bannock County.
According to Idaho state law, a count of possession of sexually exploitative material is punishable up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Anyone with information regarding the exploitation of children is encouraged to contact local police, the Attorney General’s ICAC Unit at (208) 947-8700, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678.