Jason Zimmerman talks to his sixth grade students n small group sessions at Sunset View Elementary in Provo Thursday, October 26, PROVO β Computer equipment registered to an award-winning Provo elementary school teacher was used to download tens of thousands of child porn files, according to a search warrant obtained by Orem police. Over the course of more than 20 pages, the warrant details an investigation that began in January when officers discovered that someone was downloading child pornography using a peer-to-peer file sharing network.
According to the warrant, police traced 1, files with names indicating child pornography to a specific piece of computer equipment, identified by an IP address. Police also traced a second address that had downloaded files suspected of containing child pornography. According to the warrant, both batches of downloads were carried out by someone using the same unique computer identifiers. In March, police searched the Provo home where some of the downloads appeared to have occurred.
The owner of the wireless network later protected it with a password and the downloads from that address stopped, the warrant states. But in May, police noticed new child pornography downloads. A three-and-a-half-page list of seized items attached to the warrant includes iPods, memory cards, hard drives, laptops and numerous other electronic items.
The search warrant also includes graphic descriptions of the child pornography police tracked electronically during the investigation. Over more than three pages, it describes numerous files depicting prepubescent boys engaged in various sexually explicit activities.
Other files reportedly depicted sexual encounters between adults and young boys and girls. Thursday afternoon, Provo Sgt. Speaking generally, Post also encouraged anyone who is the victim of any crime to always contact police. Post also said officers may be meeting with parents of students at Amelia Earhart Elementary. During a meeting on grief Wednesday night, school district officials briefly mentioned the investigation into Zimmerman and provided a sign-up sheet for parents who wanted to talk to police.
