Outrage! Las Vegas Shooter Brother's Child Porn Charges Dropped In L.A. Court
The brother of Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock — who was charged with multiple criminal counts, including possessing more than 600 images of child porn — will not be facing misdemeanor charges connected to his case, RadarOnline.com can exclusively report.
Bruce Douglas Paddock looked exhausted in a wheelchair at Los Angeles court for a preliminary hearing on Friday, March 2. He was charged with one felony count of possessing over 600 images of minor pornography, including 10 or more images showing a child younger than 12. He was also charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of sex exploitation of a child, which was dismissed at Friday’s hearing.
After listening to arguments from the prosecutor and Paddock’s defense attorney, Commissioner Kristi Lousteau dismissed Paddock’s 19 misdemeanor counts of sex exploitation because the charges went beyond the statue of limitations.
Paddock could still serve a maximum of five years in state prison if he is convicted of the felony charge, said prosecutor Angela Brunson.
Los Angeles District Attorney officials alleged Paddock had more than 1,000 images of child pornography that was found in various CDs and in a folder that was found at a tire shop in Sun Valley in 2014.
LAPD Detective Anthoney Keller testified the owner of the shop called police after he discovered the pornography in the loft where Paddock had been squatting. The various evidence were collected by investigators and booked August and September 2014.
Paddock, however, was not arrested by police until October 25. Brunson said Paddock was not charged earlier because the suspect could not be located for about four years.
Keller testified that about 90 percent of the images found by authorities in CDs and the binder were of pre-pubescent minors. He added one of the images appeared to be of Paddock engaged in a sexual position.
When asked by Commissioner Lousteau to clarify what he meant, Keller said there were images of Paddock in “different sexual poses ... and a bottle up his rectum.”
During cross-examination by defense attorney Peter Korn, Keller said Paddock was not living at the loft when the evidence was collected in 2014.
Paddock, 58, was taken into custody in October at a nursing facility in the 5300 block of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, in the Valley Village neighborhood.
He is out on bail and is scheduled to be back in court on March 16.
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