»Mayor says accusers are ‘not reliable sources’ On C2
CARLISLE — After one of Mayor Tim Humphries’ cousins claimed to have seen the mayor with some junior high-age youths one night at 1 a.m. last year across from the Speedway station in Franklin, Casey Cole told his sister that he saw child pornography on Humphries’ home computer some four years before, according to court documents released Wednesday, March 3.
That was the beginning of the Carlisle police investigation into Humphries’ computers.
The mayor’s personal laptop computer and city-owned laptop were seized in November by police to be examined for child pornography, e-mails, chat logs and Internet service provider contracts. Police closed the case Feb. 25, listing the allegations as “unfounded.”
Humphries, who said he had not seen Casey Cole in three years, said Wednesday that it was “absolutely not true” about his being with junior high-age youths in Franklin.
Also, Humphries, who never was charged, says he will talk publicly at the Tuesday, March 9, City Council meeting about the incidents. The embattled mayor also is a candidate for a Warren County commission seat in the May 4 Republican primary election.
According to the police case file, Cole, who is from Franklin and who worked in Columbus last fall, told his sister, Angie, that he saw between 50 to 100 pornographic images on Humphries’ personal computer sometime between August 2004 and June 2005.
Angie Cole told police in September 2009 about the images her brother claimed he saw.
That information, as well as what police developed, was taken to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office and led to the search warrants to seize the computers that were obtained from Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson. The affidavits and other information were released Wednesday when Bronson unsealed the search warrants.
Mayor says his accusers are 'not reliable sources'
Embattled Mayor Tim Humphries said the relatives who accused him of having child pornography on his city-owned and personal computers are “distraught” and “were not reliable sources.”
Humphries said he had not seen his cousin Casey Cole in three years and has had a bad business dealing with his cousin Angie Cole.
It was Angie Cole who contacted Carlisle police Officer Mark Brooks last September, alleging that Humphries had sexually explicit materials on his computer, based on what her brother, Casey, told her he had seen several years earlier.
On Oct. 15, 2009, Brooks met with Casey Cole at the Westerville police station to interview him. At that time, Brooks learned that Cole was convicted in 2009 for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and is a Tier II sex offender who is on probation in Warren County until 2012.
Cole told the officer that Humphries showed him “between 50 to 100 pornographic images and videos of women, possibly under the age of 18” that were on his computer in his outside garage/shop at his Park Drive home, according to court documents.
On Oct. 29, Angie Cole told Brooks that Humphries accessed child porn on his city-owned laptop computer.
In his report, Lt. James Slyder said Brooks told him about the interview on Nov. 4. Slyder went to Chief Tim Boggess about the allegations against Humphries, and asked whether the computer Humphries used in his office was owned by the city, to which Boggess answered that it was.
On Nov. 5, 2009, Slyder and Boggess went to Humphries’ office at Town Hall to run a computer program to detect pornographic images. Boggess contacted Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims for assistance.
Brandy Carter, a sheriff’s investigator who specializes in sexual and physical abuse against children, contacted Slyder and later advised him to go to the county Prosecutor’s Office for search warrants to seize Humphries’ computers.
Later that afternoon, Slyder and Boggess obtained a search warrant from county Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson.
In the affidavit for the search warrant, which was unsealed by Bronson on Wednesday, March 3, through a motion filed by the Journal, Slyder said police received a tip from family member Angie Cole that Humphries was accessing child pornography.
In the affidavit, Slyder said the city-owned computer was scanned to determine if any child pornography existed. He located files depicting sexually explicit images of what he said appeared to be a male and children.
“... I believe there is significant probability that Tim Humphries computer may contain further evidence of adult and child pornography,” Slyder’s affidavit said.
Armed with search warrants, Slyder and Boggess returned to Town Hall where Humphries was on the phone . After Humphries finished the phone call, they seized his computer and searched his office. They did not allow Humphries to shut down the computer.
Police followed the mayor to his Park Drive home, which also was searched. Humphries told police the computer was in a shed behind his home .
Because the search warrant did not include the back shed, Humphries agreed to sign a permission to search form, allowing police to seize the computer and other media.
On Nov. 7, 2009, Slyder took the computers and other items seized to the Miami Valley Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in Centerville, which also uses forensic examiners who are contracted by the FBI.
On Jan. 15, 2010, the county Prosecutor’s Office told Boggess that there were “insufficient facts to indicate that a felony was committed.”
On Feb. 10, Law Director David Chicarelli informed City Manager Sherry Callahan and Carlisle City Council that there was “no evidence to prove that any of these images involve child pornography.”
The final forensic examiner’s report attached to Chicarelli’s report said more than 200 sexually explicit images were found on the city-owned computer and that 25 similar images as well as sexually explicit movies were found on his personal computer.
Carlisle police closed the case on Feb. 25 and the disposition was listed as “unfounded.”
Questions still remain on who and when the images were downloaded. The former interim city manager recently said the computer was cleansed before it was passed on to Humphries, who was elected mayor in November 2007.
Humphries has continued to maintain his innocence and is currently facing a possible recall election if enough residents sign the petitions being circulated in the city.
Humphries said he will give a report at Tuesday’s council meeting on this issue.
“All of the cards are on the table now,” Humphries said.
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