Fairchild Man Facing Possession of Child Pornography Charges Appears in Clark County Court
Friday, March 28th, 2014 -- 3:04 PM
-A Fairchild man facing possession of child pornography charges appeared in Clark County Court Friday afternoon for a motion hearing.Tod Nicolai, age 48, was arrested in May of 2013 for possession of child pornography after his laptop computer was discovered in a ditch and turned into the authorities. Nicolai had claimed it was stolen and, in trying to determine who it belonged to, the Clark County Sheriff?s Department discovered thousands of images of child pornography.
During his arrest, and subsequent search of Nicolai?s home, they discovered more images and videos of explicit material involving children. They also found drugs and drug paraphernalia. Also, during this time, it was discovered that Nicolai is a registered sex offender as he sexually assaulted his nieces back in the early 90?s.
During the motion hearing, Nicolai?s defense attorney, Robert Thorson, tried to get the evidence from the computer thrown out, saying that Detective Jeffery Baumgarten searched too far when he was trying to discover the owner of the computer and that his client?s expectation of privacy was violated. The state argued that as the computer was considered abandoned property, Baumgarten had the right to search as far as he did.
Judge Thomas Eagon agreed saying that it is not unreasonable for an officer to run a serial number to check and see who owns stolen or abandoned property. It is not unreasonable for an officer to turn on the computer and try and find an ID. The motion was suppressed.
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