Jerry Waselenkoff is charged with one count of possessing child pornography.

(GLYNN BROTHEN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS – Two investigators who examined compact disks and a laptop allegedly belonging to a retired teacher found elements of child pornography on both, according to testimony in Kamloops Supreme Court today, May 11.

Cpl. Barry Salt searched Jerry Waselenkoff’s laptop for child pornography after police seized it from the accused's apartment on McGill road June 18, 2013. Police obtained a search warrant after a neighbour who lived below Waselenkoff's apartment found four cases of disks in the floor joist between the two apartments.

Waselenkoff is charged with one count of possessing child pornography.

Salt searched thousands of images on the computer’s hard drive and recovered 250 which he “thought may be consistent with child porn.”

"They were mostly of children on a beach,” he said. "Groups of children ranging through seven to 15, maybe even older children as well. The majority of the clips I recovered they were getting body painted. There were also some where it appeared to be a family. Everyone was nude including the children."

Salt searched the internet history and found various links to regular porn sites, but also noted clicks on specific categories - one of which was ‘teens,’ the other ‘old men and teens.’

The recent history on the laptop’s media player showed terminology consistent with child porn, Salt said. The letters LSA or LS is associated with a production company out of the Ukraine. Salt noted those letters were associated both with files on the computer and on the disks found in the cases. Other terms found were ‘Lola’ ‘Ana’ and ‘Lolita’ which Salt said are popular child porn monikers.

Salt said a regular porn acronym ‘12yo’ (12-year-old) was on Waselenkoff’s device.

The investigator made specific mention the evidence was found in unallocated space of the computer’s memory which meant the images and history were deleted at some point and the files no longer have dates for when they were created.

“I can’t place a certain person behind the keyboard. I don’t know if he opened the image and immediately closed it without ever looking at it,” Salt told Waselenkoff’s lawyer Glen Orris during cross-examination.

Orris asked Salt to explain how internet data is cached. Salt said elements of a webpage, like photos, are kept on browsing history which is transferred to the computer’s hard drive. He admitted specific images can be copied from a website and saved to the cache, even if the user never saw them.

“You look at a webpage, you look at a tenth of the page and you leave the page. That whole page goes to unallocated space?” Orris asked.

"Not the page, but elements. Images would stay in allocated space until you delete the cache, then it goes into unallocated,” Salt replied.

Orris asked Salt if he ever visited specific websites where Waselenkoff allegedly watched videos of children. Salt replied he visited the website’s home page, but never reviewed content on the site.

To determine whether the computer belonged to the accused, Salt found credit card data linked to Waselenkoff, scanned executor documents and his signed will.

In Monday’s morning session, Cpl. Kerry Blades said she viewed a series of videos on the disks within the four cases seized from beneath a vent in Waselenkoff’s apartment Oct. 27, 2012.

"I made personal notes (and) created a spreadsheet to keep track of the sheer volume of the data,” Blades said.

In her April 2013 notes, Blades referenced file numbers on the disks, names which included the LSA identifier, the age of the person on camera and what was depicted. She made notes on six videos of different girls ranging in ages from eight to 16. In all videos the girls were alone and naked with most camera angles focussed on the girls' vaginas, she said. Blades said two videos featured girls speaking a different language, maybe Russian.

Included in several other data-storing items seized in a search warrant of Waselenkoff’s home, Blades noted a disk she examined which appeared to be of a family trip to Russia, but said she wasn’t sure of the location.

“It appears to be vacation-type pictures of a number of people including Mr. Waselenkoff,” she said.

Orris, in his cross-examination of Blades, challenged her note-taking and asked why her flow chart did not document when the disks were removed from an evidence locker. He also questioned who removed the disks from the case and repackaged them in white folders.

The investigation began when Frans Van Der Woning and his son Ray made renovations to Frans' apartment underneath Waselenkoff's. To feed wire for a project, the pair cut a hole in the ceiling and discovered four cases containing disks. Ray called police after reviewing two disks which contained child pornography.

Court heard evidence from the Van Der Woning's in March, but the trial was adjourned after a late disclosure of evidence. The trial is expected to conclude Tuesday. 

-This story was updated at 5:20 p.m., May 11 to include evidence from Cpl. Barry Salt. 

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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