A Casper man is facing charges of Possession of Child Pornography, after an investigation and arrest by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
25-year-old Michael Shane-Lourcey Clements faced Natrona County Circuit Court Judge Michael Patchen for his initial appearance on Thursday. Wearing a green jail jumpsuit and shackles, the suspect heard the charges against him: Possession of Child Pornography.
Court paperwork says that a DCI investigation was begun in late January of 2017 into the case. Agents were investigating the BitTorret network for offenders sharing child pornography. BitTorrent is an online peer-to-peer file sharing protocol allowing users to share digital materials with each other via the internet. Agents say that they were able to monitor a torrent-file that contained a file identified as being of interest in child pornography investigations.
Through investigation, DCI agents were able to locate and trace the IP address of the user who was downloading the suspected file, leading them to Clements’ home in west Casper.
A search warrant was served on the home, DCI and members of the Wyoming Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed the warrant. Agents say in court paperwork that Clements admitted to interest in child pornography and said he had been downloading child pornography through file sharing, estimating that he had probably collected approximately 2,000 files.
Agents report that during an on-scene investigation, 1869 images and 43 videos of suspected child pornography were found.
During his initial appearance, Clements told the court that he lived most of his life in Riverton, Wyoming; before spending a brief time in Jacksonville, Florida; and then moving to Casper approximately 7 months ago.
If convicted on the charge, Possession of Child Pornography carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years in prision, up-to $10,000 in fines, or some combination of both.
Judge Patchen handed down a bond amount of $10,000 cash or surety. Clements is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at a later date, where it will be decided if the case will be bound over to Natrona County District Court.
All suspects in any criminal case are presumed innocent until such a time as they are proven otherwise in court.
