Air traffic controller who reportedly filmed himself having sex in airport tower indicted on child porn charges
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IDAHO FALLS — A grand jury has indicted an Idaho Falls man after he was charged with allegedly possessing and distributing child pornography. He also reportedly filmed himself having sex in the Idaho Falls airport tower.
Chase Hornaday, 40, was indicted on one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Federal court documents say on Nov. 27, an Internet Crimes Against Children task force detective was told about videos of child sexual abuse material uploaded to the social media application Kik.
The account that uploaded the videos was traced back to Hornaday, who reportedly uploaded videos and images of child pornography and sent them to others.
Officers discovered he worked as an air traffic controller for the FAA at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport.
On Dec. 12, the detective received a search warrant that reportedly showed over 60 videos and images of child pornography associated with Hornaday. The detective also found that he reportedly “produced adult pornography of himself and adult females in the Idaho Falls Airport Control Tower in the same Kik account as the (child pornography),” according to court documents.
Kik provided the detective with recent chat messages between Hornaday and other users. In one message, Hornaday reportedly insinuates that he is going to convince a woman to steal her daughter’s underwear.
“She has a 17-year-old daughter… maybe I could get her to steal a dirty pair of her panties.”
On Jan. 10, Hornaday was stopped by a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy in a parking lot of East 17th Street. He was taken to the Bonneville County Ammon Field Office, where he requested a lawyer and declined to talk with investigators.
He was later booked into the Bonneville County Jail before being moved to the Jefferson County Jail, where federal inmates are often held.
After searching Hornaday’s phone, detectives found approximately 300 images of child pornography.
That afternoon, detectives reportedly listened to jail calls between Hornaday and a relative.
The relative reportedly asked Hornaday, “What was going on with you?” to which he replied, “I’ve been in pain a long time, I’ve tried to numb it, I’ve done bad things.”
The relative later said they didn’t understand, and Hornaday reportedly stated, “I didn’t want to do drugs, and this was another way to numb my pain.”
The relative told Hornaday he “should have done drugs,” to which he replied, “I should have done drugs.”
Court documents state the relative told him he was “a pedophile now” and the call cut out as time ran out.
Seven minutes later, the two had another call, during which the relative again asked, “Why?”
Hornaday reportedly responded, “Because it helps numb the pain of anything.” The relative asked, “How did looking at naked pictures of children help?” And Hornaday responded, “That’s the conversation we can have later. I don’t have much time.”
Another six minutes later, the relative asks how long it has been going on, and he responds, “Maybe a year.”
When asked how old the kids in the images are, Hornaday reportedly states, “5-18.” Court documents say the children in the videos and photos were as young as infants.
He then reportedly stated, “I can tell you more about it if you ever want to talk to me again and try to come to an understanding of why I did it because I don’t fully understand other than I slowly found it and it was shocking enough to numb the pain of every other thing that was hurting.”
Hornaday also stated, “I’ve never touched a child, I’ve never looked at a child in person, I’ve never wanted to do anything, I’ve never touched anybody.”
Detectives later discovered Hornaday also had “at least two restraining orders from the state of Washington that expressly prohibited him from possessing firearms.”
Court documents say Hornaday convinced a woman to illegally purchase guns for him while he was unable to. The restraining orders for gun purchasing is scheduled to continue through Dec. 2033.
Hornaday was released from the Jefferson County Jail on May 22 with many pre-trial conditions, including that he “not possess or use a device with internet access, or access the internet, without the prior permission from a Pretrial Services officer.
A jury trial is scheduled for Hornaday on Sept 9. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
Though Hornaday has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.