Two men indicted federally for possessing child pornography
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IDAHO FALLS – Two men were indicted by a federal grand jury after they allegedly made, possessed or distributed child pornography.
Nathan Law, 48, and Che Miles, 39, were indicted in separate cases by grand juries on Jan. 24.
Law was indicted on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor child, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Miles was indicted on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Both indictments state that if the men are convicted, they will be forced to forfeit any property or profits obtained from the offenses. This includes cash proceeds and electronic devices used to facilitate crimes.
Law was originally charged with six felonies for possessing child sexually exploitative material and four felonies for video voyeurism on Dec. 14. However, those local charges were dropped in late January after the federal indictments.
According to court documents, in July, investigators with the Idaho Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force identified a suspect who was allegedly sharing child sexual abuse material online with other internet users. Investigators found thousands of images that were shared.
The suspect was identified as Law. Six of the most egregious sexual videos uploaded on Law’s computer showed young girls ranging in age from 8 to 14.
A search warrant was executed at Law’s home in Idaho Falls on Dec. 13. Agencies involved were the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho Falls Police Department, and the Idaho Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, documents said.
Law told investigators that he has a pornography problem and that it has “gone too far.”
He said he attempted to film people in the past without their knowledge, using hidden cameras in private areas.
He explained to investigators that at least three separate victims in different residences in Bonneville County were filmed using a GoPro camera. The videos were taken in an area of the home where the victims had an expectation of privacy, documents said.
Two of the victims were adults at the time and one was possibly under 18.
Law told investigators he shared the voyeuristic videos with other people online.
He additionally admitted to inappropriately filming young children at his church. Law said he had attempted to record a video up a girl’s skirt within the past couple of weeks for sexual reasons, documents said.
When investigators were interviewing Law, he admitted to downloading and uploading child pornography and sharing images of child sexual abuse material with other people.
Law identified one of these people as Miles, a member of his church, using a photo from his Facebook account.
Law told officers he last hung out with Miles at his home on Oct. 1. Law was then arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail.
Court records show on Dec. 21, detectives from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by investigators from the Idaho Falls Police Department and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, executed a search warrant at Miles’ home.
During an interview with investigators, Miles admitted to “having accessed links to specific cloud services where he would download these sexual abuse images.”
He also admitted to taking the images and moving them to a saved folder on an external hard drive, according to court documents.
He told officers that he received child pornography from Law, showing girls as young as 10 years old.
Miles also told police that Law had filmed a teenage girl inside a home in “a state of undress” without her knowledge or permission.
When investigators reviewed the “several thousands of images of child sexual abuse material” on Miles’ devices, they found videos of girls as young as four or five years old engaging in sexual acts with adult men, according to police reports.
Miles was originally charged with five counts of willfully possessing or accessing child sexually exploitative material on Dec. 21. His local charges were also dropped after the federal indictment came down.
Further court proceedings have not been scheduled.
If convicted, Law could face up to 90 years in prison, and Miles could face up to 60 years in prison.