Pedophile Tracking Virginia Sex Offender Faces Child Porn Charges

A convicted sex offender faces new charges after a computer technician told police he saw inappropriate pictures of children on the man’s computer. Waynesboro police charged David Wesley Lochner, 78, with four felony counts of knowingly possessing child pornography after officers found nearly 300 images of young boys on his computer last December.

Armed with a search warrant, Waynesboro detectives went to Lochner’s home on Dec. 11, 2014 after receiving a tip from a computer technician, who allegedly saw the inappropriate photos while repairing Lochner’s computer. The technician found the photos during a house call and reported them to police, according to Waynesboro Police Sgt. Brian Edwards.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

At the home, detectives seized two laptop computers and a flash drive. Over the last few months, every individual image was reviewed by the police department, as well as the Waynesboro Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

“It’s a painstaking process and can’t be done in one sitting,” Edwards said, explaining the difficulty of investigating these types of crimes.

After reviewing all of the photos, police received warrants for Lochner’s arrest and he surrendered himself to the police department on Tuesday morning. After a consultation between Lochner’s defense attorney, the police department and the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, Lochner is currently free on a bond of personal recognizance because of his numerous health issues, Edwards explained.

“There is no indication from reviewing these images that he took any of them or that there are any victims out there locally,” Edwards said. “We believe they were all downloaded off of the internet by Mr. Lochner.”

In 2004, Lochner was convicted of a class six felony producing or distributing child pornography in Bedford County, according to the Virginia State Sex Offender Registry. Because the new charges are his second, Lochner is now facing class five felonies and will face more jail time.

“Any person who commits a second or subsequent violation under this subsection shall be punished by a term of imprisonment of not less than five years nor more than 20 years in a state correctional facility, five years of which shall be a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment,” according to Virginia Code 18.2-374.1:1.

If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in jail.

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