More charges filed in child porn case
Garner allegedly had more than 20,000 images, 1,300 videos on two cellphones
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A city man charged with corruption of minors last month after allegedly telling a 3-year-old girl to take off her underwear and pants, now faces more than 100 charges after an investigation turned up "copious amounts of child pornography" on his cellphones.
According to court documents, police continue to review the contents on the cellphones used by Nasir Debonaire Terrence Garner, 24, as more than 20,000 images and 1,300 videos were located.
Garner is behind bars unable to post $750,000 bail after his arraignment Wednesday morning before Magisterial District Judge Daniel C. DeAntonio.
He faces 104 charges, including one felony count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, two felony counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, two felony counts of corruption of minors, 43 felony counts of photograph/film/depict on computer sex act with a child, 45 felony counts of child pornography, two felony counts of disseminating photo/film of child sex acts, five misdemeanor counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age and four misdemeanor counts of design/copy obscene material depicting a minor.
The investigation stemmed from a July 16 incident in which Altoona police were dispatched to the 400 block of Walnut Avenue after a witness reportedly found Garner holding the pants and underwear of a 3-year-old child.
The witness asked the victim why she had her pants off and was told "because he told me to," court documents state.
Online court records show the corruption of minors charge filed against Garner in that case was withdrawn when the new charges were filed.
The criminal complaint provides additional information about the first case, as well as the subsequent investigation that resulted in the additional charges.
After the witness found Garner with the child, Garner left the residence and called police to give his side of what occurred at the Walnut Avenue home.
He told police he was showing the girl a hamster and taking pictures of the pet. He told police he called them because he knew what the witness would allege and "he would never do that to a child."
Garner had given police his blue iPhone, but when talking with him again, police noticed he had a second cellphone in his pocket.
The witness said she couldn't remember which phone Garner had and police requested the second phone, which Garner appeared to be hiding in his pocket and then claimed it was an iPod, police reported.
Garner then gave the black iPhone to police, stating the passcode was the same as the first phone. But, after trying the code, police found that wasn't the case and Garner supplied the correct code. Garner then said he needed the phone back to get numbers from it but then said "I'm just going to delete this," at which point police took the phone back.
Search warrants were executed on the phones on July 17, police reported, and an initial search turned up child pornography.
A forensic examination of the two cellphones, an iPhone 14 Pro and an iPhone XR, turned up child pornography photos and videos. The metadata also indicated that at least some of the videos and photos were created with Garner's phones, the report states.
The videos and photos were recent, with police indicating they were made between May 7 and July 16.
In addition, police could identify Garner as being in the videos due to his distinctive tattoo.
Police were able to identify two children, a 3-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy, and after talking with the children's families, could identify the locations where some of the photos and videos were taken.
Police found 15 videos and 19 pictures of the boy being assaulted by Garner, the report states. Some of the videos appear to have been livestreamed. In one instance, police were able to find a female taking part in the livestream event from Idaho and a male from California.
Police found three videos and six photos of the girl, with Garner appearing in those, as well, court documents state.
A third cellphone can be seen in some of the videos, and on Aug. 3, police executed a search warrant on Garner's apartment on the 2200 block of Ninth Street.
The third cellphone was not found, police reported, though packaging for an iPhone 14 indicates he may have recently upgraded from the phone seen in the videos.
Police learned Garner has two young children, but pointed out they don't appear to be victims of sexual assault.
In describing the case, police said 290 videos and/or photos of prepubescent child pornography were found on the iPhone XR, with 43 of those made by Garner involving known victims.
"It is evident from the content on (Garner's) cellular phone, that he is either selling, swapping, trading and/or buying child pornography through various applications," police said.
In addition, police located another 79 images and 15 videos of prepubescent child pornography on Garner's iPhone 14 Pro. Police noted that at least two videos showed prepubescent children committing sex acts with animals.
Police said the iPhone 14 Pro contains 20,257 images and 1,333 videos. "The content is still being reviewed and may provide additional evidence," the complaint concludes.