Garcia convicted in child pornography trial
A St. Joseph County Circuit Court jury Wednesday afternoon took just 90 minutes of deliberation to convict Adalberto Garcia, 24, of Sturgis, of using a computer to commit a crime, a 15-year felony.
The jury of five men and seven women found him guilty of two counts of aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material, 10-year felonies.
Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman will sentence him on July 22. Because he had appeared at all proceedings and was not considered a threat, he remained free on bond.
Michigan State Police Detective trooper specialist Kyle Bower, from the computer crimes division in Coldwater, investigated the case.
Bowers said Snapchat alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that pictures of young children being sexually abused were downloaded on their app.
The connection was just after midnight on April 7, 2021.
The tip included three pictures. One had a young girl about age 4 with a nude man and a woman. The other is a young girl aged 8-12 in a sexual act with a young boy.
In mid-May, Bowers found the internet address of the connection was a Charter Communications account in southwest Michigan.
Bowers obtained a search warrant from the St. Joseph County District Court. A week later, Charter provided Bowers with the Sturgis address where Garcia lived.
Bowers then obtained a search warrant for the home and talked to Garcia at work. Garcia denied making the connection until Bowers found the Snapchat user name and profile on a smartphone in his bedroom.
Garcia admitted he used the phone to view the three pictures saved on a previous phone. He said he reported the group who shared the images to Snapchat. Snapchat showed the account was used from 2020 to March 2021.
No child pornography was found on his devices when searched by Bowers. There was no information of any other child pornography connections or downloads for the account.
Garcia took the stand but was unable to convince the jury his intention was not an attempt to obtain child pornography.
Garcia has a prior February 2020 conviction for fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Garcia convicted in child pornography trial
