A man got arrested after he accidentally spilled gravy on his laptop keyboard and brought it to a local Best Buy, where police said a tech worker discovered images of child pornography on his device.
It was on August 11, 2018, when Robert Watson from Des Moines took his laptop to a local Best Buy. He wanted his files to be transferred to a new computer.
“During this file transfer process employees at Best Buy ‘Geek Squad’ observed multiple images they believed contained child pornography,” according to the complaint provided to BuzzFeed News.
“Once this transfer was complete both computers were collected by Des Moines police as evidence.”
During an interview with police, Watson said he was the only person who used the password-protected computer. He also described many photos that detectives eventually discovered on his device.
“Robert advised that he downloaded the images because he wanted to tell other people about them,” police wrote.
Watson has been charged with ten counts of possession of child pornography. He was arrested and is being held in Polk County Jail with a bond set to $50,000.
A spokesperson for the Office of the State Public Defender in Iowa told BuzzFeed News it had been appointed to defend the man. However, no attorney had yet been assigned to the case.
Paula Baldwin, the public relations director for Best Buy, said to BuzzFeed News that Geek Squad employees found apparent child pornography on customers’ devices almost 100 times a year.
“They don’t search for the material, but inadvertently discover it in the normal course of repairing a computer,” she said.
“When we do find what appears to be child pornography, we have a legal obligation to notify law enforcement and we inform our customers of this prior to doing any work. Law enforcement determines a course of action based on the evidence, as they did in this situation.”
What’s your take on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this with your friends and family!