Could Parents Have Been Warned About Joshua Carrier Sooner?

It’s a child pornography case that federal investigators did nothing about for years. Former Colorado Springs police officer Joshua Carrier was charged with sexual assault and exploitation of children in 2011, four years after he purchased child porn online.

In April 2012, an El Paso County jury found Carrier guilty of child sexual exploitation, but not guilty of some of the more serious sex crimes, including sexual assault.

Target 13 learned that the case began in 2007, when Carrier?s name was found on a photo sharing website used for porn. Possessing child porn is a crime. However, the case was not turned over to the Colorado Springs police department until 2011.

Carrier was hired by the Colorado Springs Police Department in July 2004. According to department spokesperson Barbara Miller, Carrier was terminated in June 2011. She said the department became aware of Carrier?s child porn purchases that same year.

But who knew about Carrier?s online porn purchases in 2007 and why wasn?t anything done for four years?

?It?s absurd to think that they found out about this in 2007 and didn’t pass the word along,? said Sarah Humphries, whose son testified against Carrier.

Humphries? son was on the wrestling team at Horace Mann Middle School in 2009 and 2010. She said during that time, Carrier touched her 12-year-old son inappropriately, while examining him for a rash. ?If anybody knew something was going on then, they should have said it way before it ever got to the point that it did,? said Humphries.

During the Carrier trial, prosecutor Amy Fitch originally mentioned that the Air Force Office of Special Investigations had knowledge of Carrier?s online activities.

?I think the Air Force or one of the defense investigative agencies was given some information that Joshua Carrier, or a computer belonging to Joshua Carrier had downloaded some child pornography,? said Rick Levinson, Humphries? attorney.

According to Levinson and Carrier?s own attorney Chris Decker, downloaded pornographic pictures of children, found on the Flickr photo sharing website in 2007, triggered congressional action.

According to Decker, the records were obtained from Paypal accounts.

?At the end of the Flickr investigation, testimony was given,? said Decker. “A senator asked, ‘What did you do with all these business records? Did you investigate the people who purchased it?'”

?It took congressional action to get the investigation opened again and for that information to be sent to the Colorado Springs Police Department,? said Levinson.

Decker was asking the question that was on the minds of many: ?How does a 2007 transaction show up on your doorstep in 2011??

According to Miller, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) had the photos removed from the website in 2007. She said the names of people suspected of downloading pornography were also sent to the Department of Defense in 2007.

?If they had information that a particular individual in our jurisdiction was downloading and using child pornography, I don’t think anybody would deny that they had an obligation and should have turned that information to local law enforcement,? said Levinson.

KRDO asked the Department of Defense what they knew about the Carrier case. In an e-mail, Bridget Serchak, with the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, said, ?You will need to work with the FOIA office directly on your request, including questions on the timeline for the materials.?

KRDO submitted an expedited FOIA request with the DOD. A case number was assigned, but the expedited request was denied.

KRDO also asked the Air Force Office of Special Investigations what they knew about the Carrier case. In an e-mail, AFOSI spokesperson Linda Card confirmed that Carrier did download porn in 2007.

?During NCMEC?s investigative activities, it was determined that the subject paid for access and downloading of two known child pornographic images from Jan. 17, 2007 to Jan. 23, 2007,? Card stated.

Patti Davis, with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), refuted the statement, saying the organization does not investigate.

?It?s up to the state to decide what to investigate,? said Davis over the phone. In an e-mail Davis added, ?We assist law enforcement and do not discuss their cases.?

?Any comments should come from the prosecutor,? said D?Ann Taflin, also with the NCMEC.

Prosecutor Amy Fitch declined KRDO?s request for an interview.

According to Card, the AFOSI learned of the case in 2011 from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), which is part of the Department of Defense.

Card stated, ?On March 18, 2011, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) provided AFOSI with a list of suspected targets of an Internet-based child pornography website, in cooperation with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) officials, who found that frequently visited Internet sites were commercial websites offering the sale of child exploitation images.?

?(Carrier) was identified as a member of one of these sites and referred to AFOSI on March 18, 2011,? Card added.

In the e-mail, Card went on to say that, ?Based on AFOSI?s review of the DOD Employee Interactive Data System, it was determined that the subject (Carrier) did not fall within AFOSI?s investigative jurisdiction.?

?We actually opened our case within the AFOSI case system on March 28, 2011, as well as referred the information (on the) same day to CSPD when it was determined that the subject did not fall within AFOSI?s investigative jurisdiction,? stated Card. ?We closed the AFOSI case administratively within our system on May 6, 2011 – an administrative case action once all the paperwork and reports are loaded into our case system.?

?We do not do interviews regarding cases that are not ours,? said Card in a subsequent e-mail.

However, Lt. Colonel Joseph Musacchia of Peterson Air Force Base, accepted KRDO?s request to talk about how government agencies typically exchange information. ?Whenever there are criminal allegations being placed against a family member, typically, the notification to local law enforcement occurs within 24 hours,? said Musacchia.

?We share information,? said Musacchia. ?We cooperate. Our cooperation that we have here in the city of Colorado Springs is very, very good, if not bar none. (It?s) one of the best that I?ve seen.?

As far as the Carrier case goes, Musacchia said, ?I cannot speak to the intimate details or situations involved with that case, because my office personally did not work that case.?

There is no evidence Peterson Air Force Base knew anything about the case.

?Whatever agency found the connection had found it some four years earlier,” said Levinson. “And then (they) basically sat on it or put it in a no-action file for a period of time.?

?They should have gotten the information a long time before any of these children got hurt because 2007 would have been years before any of this ever happened,? said Humphries. KRDO also submitted a FOIA request with the AFOSI. To date, the requested documents have not been received.

The jury found Carrier not guilty of more than 30 charges, including some of the more serious sex crimes he was charged with. The El Paso County District Attorney’s office plans to try Carrier again on some of the charges the jury could not decide on, including child sexual assault.