A 34-year-old man is accused in Crow Wing County District Court of downloading pornographic images of children and videos of females who appeared less than 10, 12, 13 and 14 years old.
Cameron Lee Drummond, whose address is listed as Los Angeles, was charged with 17 counts of possessing child pornography on a computer. His first appearance was Jan. 9, when he posted bail and was released from jail. His next court appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. July 25, in front of Judge Earl Maus.
According to the probable cause court document filed against Drummond, on June 30, 2015, a Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office investigator was contacted by a special agent from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation regarding investigative material on the downloads of suspected child pornography obtained through peer-to-peer computer networks. The agent located and downloaded 123 "files of interest" linked to a specific IP address registered to a person with initials "J.D.," as identified in the complaint from the dates of June 16-July 16, 2015.
The agent obtained a subpoena to CenturyLink, requesting the IP address assignments during the times he was able to download child pornographic images from said computers. CenturyLink responded, indicating all three IP addresses were assigned to Drummond with a physical address on Lakeview Drive in Brainerd.
Law enforcement obtained a search warrant and executed it on the morning of July 29, 2016. Drummond opened the door and refused to speak with officers without an attorney present. His wife told an investigator she and Drummond moved into his parents' home a few months prior. Officers obtained Drummond's cellphone, an Apple iPhone 5s, from his person as evidence. The phone was password-protected and the defendant refused to provide the password, the complaint stated. Various attempts by law enforcement to circumvent or obtain the password to access the data contained within proved unsuccessful. A further search of the residence produced several computers and additional cellphones.
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Later on July 29, 2016, Drummond and his stepfather went to the sheriff's department seeking return of items taken during the search that did not produce digital evidence of child pornography. The stepfather stated his computer was used for his employment, and he wished to have it returned.
During this exchange, Drummond voluntarily stated he looked at pornography, but claimed it involved subjects who ranged in age from 18-23 years old. After being reminded he had previously invoked his right to have an attorney present, Drummond stated he spoke with an attorney who told him not to say anything, but then again, voluntarily stated he "believed that whatever you are looking for is on my computer," the complaint stated.
Investigators searched the seized items for evidence of child pornography. At the completion of digital evidence processing, the only item of evidence containing child pornography was the computer identified by Drummond's stepfather as belonging to the defendant.
A Brainerd Police Department investigator found multiple child pornographic images and videos on the computer. The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office investigator reviewed the images and found the child pornographic images and videos present on Drummond's computer matched the ones downloaded.
