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BPD officer arrested on child porn complaint: OFFICER: Images found of BHS studentsFeb 13, 2010 (The Bakersfield Californian - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Bakersfield police officer who admitted to engaging in online chats describing rape and murder fantasies involving children was arrested by the FBI Friday on a criminal complaint alleging possession and receipt of child pornography, detectives said in the criminal complaint. Christopher Kent Bowersox, 38, was removed from duty and placed on administrative leave when the allegations first surfaced, and he resigned earlier this week, a Bakersfield Police Department news release said. Bowersox had been a detective in the department and worked there since 2002. Once an arrest has been made in a federal criminal complaint, the government has 10 days to file an indictment. FBI officials declined to comment on the case late Friday. KGET Channel 17 reported that Bowersox said the allegations were false. "Child pornography," he told KGET. "I'm not into that sick kind of stuff." BPD officials could not be reached for comment. The case against Bowersox is connected to another case involving a Florida man who was arrested Sept. 15, 2009, on child pornography charges, according to the criminal complaint filed by the FBI in U.S. District Court Eastern District of California. Nicholas William Beeman told officers that he was depressed over online contact he'd had with someone he knew as "Colby." This person had discussed raping and murdering children with Beeman, the criminal complaint said. A forensic review of Beeman's computer revealed he had communicated with a "cbowersox" on a Yahoo! account, and it was discovered that the screen name "cbowersox" was registered to Christopher K. Bowersox of Bakersfield and was currently active, the criminal complaint said. Conversations between the screen names "zdasher18" and "cbowersox" included multiple references to the raping, injuring and killing of children, the criminal complaint said. On Nov. 6, 2009, Bakersfield police served a search warrant at Bowersox's residence, according to the criminal complaint. Two computers and two external hard drives were seized as evidence, and detectives found digital images and digital video containing child pornography, the complaint filed in federal court said. There were also five digital images of what appeared to be surveillance photographs of students on the Bakersfield High School campus, the criminal complaint said. Detectives interviewed Bowersox, who told them he had a Yahoo! account with the username "cbowersox" and he used the name "Colby" as his identity on the Internet, the criminal complaint said. It also says Bowersox "reluctantly described" sharing fantasies with others in online chat rooms about "things between men and boys and violence between men and boys." Bowersox told detectives they were only fantasies and he had never carried out any of the actions he described, the criminal complaint said. He said he did not recall taking pictures of students at BHS. To see more of The Bakersfield Californian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bakersfield.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Bakersfield Californian Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |