A 42-year-old man is facing multiple felony charges after he was allegedly caught sharing and downloading child pornography.

Melvin Everette Robinson was arrested at a Powell motel on the night of July 7 and he remained in custody on Monday. Robinson’s bond has been set at $10,000 cash on two counts of sharing child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography. The charges relate to alleged file sharing and downloads in April, when Robinson was reportedly living in Big Horn County, and last week, when he was living in Powell.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea to the charges, but if convicted, he would face a minimum of five years in prison.

Investigating illegal images

The case stems from the work of Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Gary Seder, who’s assigned to the Computer Crime Team Internet Crimes Against Children
Task Force.

In a sworn statement, Seder said his investigation began in mid-April, when he found a device sharing child pornography via the peer-to-peer network BitTorrent.

Between April 14 and 17, Seder said one or two devices tied to locations in Big Horn County shared at least five illicit files; the agent said they contained images and a video of nude early pubescent and prepubescent girls engaged in sexual acts.

Seder could see that the files were shared from two different IP addresses controlled by Starlink and TCT West. After DCI issued a pair of administrative summonses to the two companies, they shared the names and physical addresses of the customers who had been assigned those IP addresses.

That helped Seder trace the IP addresses to a residence in Byron and a Lovell gas station. 

Identifying a suspect

Charging documents indicate the agent initially suspected a specific resident at the Byron address was responsible for the downloads, as that individual also worked at the gas station. However, when Seder searched the home on July 7, he found no illicit materials on that person’s phone, nor did that phone have the BitLord application that had been used to share the offending files in April.

It wasn’t a dead end, though, as the DCI agent learned that Robinson had also lived at the Byron property and also worked at the Lovell gas station during the time period in question.

Seder was told that Robinson had since moved into a motel in Powell, so he quickly obtained another warrant for that location.

Robinson came to his motel room door that night with a phone in his hand and eventually “admitted that he knew there was child pornography on the cellphone,” Seder wrote.

In skimming through the roughly 6,400 files on the device, the agent said he spotted child pornography. The affidavit describes 10 specific images that featured either early pubescent or prepubescent girls in sexual positions and acts; all 10 files had been downloaded within the last 48 hours, the document says.

Seder said the phone also had the BitLord application installed.

Bond set, deal reached in similar case

At Robinson’s Friday morning appearance in Circuit Court, Deputy Park County Attorney Larry Eichele requested that bail be set at $10,000 cash only. Beyond the seriousness of the allegations, “we do believe he is a flight risk,” Eichele said.

With no counterargument from Robinson, Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah adopted the prosecutor’s recommendation.

This is DCI’s second child pornography case in Powell within the last several months. In March, 33-year-old Christian David Petty was charged with 20 felony counts that similarly allege he downloaded and shared illegal material via BitTorrent. Petty is currently free on a $30,000 cash bond, but has agreed to a deal that calls for him to serve five to seven years in prison, according to court records. He is awaiting a change of plea and sentencing hearing.

As for Robinson, he is tentatively set for a preliminary hearing on July 20.