Garner

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge heard testimony Friday from an Altoona detective whose investigation into a city man accused of telling a 3-year-old girl to take off her underwear and pants uncovered “copious amounts of child pornography” on his cellphones.

Nasir Debonaire Garner, 27, was charged with more than 100 felony counts in the case, including 45 counts of child pornography and 43 counts of photograph/film/depict on computer sex act with a child. He has been held at the Blair and Cambria County prisons since his arrest in mid-July 2023 after being unable to post $750,000 bail.

The morning’s proceedings began with Garner, appearing alongside Chief Public Defender Julia Burke and Assistant Public Defender Jordan DeLeo, confirming his desire to waive his right to a trial by jury and have his case heard by President Judge Wade A. Kagarise.

First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith then called the day’s only witness, Altoona Police Det. Jon Burns, who said he was assigned to the case on July 17, 2023. Burns seized two cellphones from Garner as a part of his investigation and executed search warrants to extract their content.

Burns said child pornography was located on both devices, with several of the hundreds of photos and videos depicting two children known to Garner, who were 3 and 4 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.

A TV screen facing away from the gallery showed four of the videos while Burns described to Kagarise what was occurring on screen.

Burns said a cellphone seen in the video displayed a chat­room from a website allegedly utilized by Garner to live­stream himself creating child porn.

A message believed to have been sent from Garner stated his “girl” was asleep and another user asked about the “girl.” Garner replied that he was talking about the victim’s mother, Burns said.

When asked by Smith how they were able to confirm the victim’s identity, Burns said the victim’s mother was shown a close-up image of the victim’s face and was able to positively identify them as her child.

Smith then questioned Burns on the content of the videos not shown in court, to which Burns said there were additional videos that depicted penetration.

Through further questioning, Burns said the photo’s metadata showed they were taken in Garner’s apartment along the 2200 block of Ninth Street. He also noted that both the victim and the victim’s mother were asleep at the time of the assaults.

On cross-examination, Burke asked Burns if the victim had been interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center, to which Burns said yes but it appeared the victim “did not recall” the assaults.

Burns then confirmed that the videos had audio and, while it was not played in court, no sounds could be heard from the victim during the assaults. Burns also conceded to Burke that he could not definitively, at that point in time, confirm that Garner was the one interacting with other users in the illicit chatroom shown in the video.

Following Burns’ testimony, Kagarise recessed the trial for the day. Proceedings will continue at a later, to-be-determined date.

The investigation into Garner began on July 16, 2023, after Altoona police were dispatched to the 400 block of Walnut Avenue for a witness who reportedly found Garner holding the pants and underwear of a 3-year-old child.

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. Garner said 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.”

Police seized two cellphones from Garner and executed search warrants for their contents on July 17, 2023. Officers noted that an initial search yielded child pornography, with a later forensic examination turning up more than 20,000 images and 1,300 videos on the devices.

Garner was able to be identified in some of the content due to a distinctive tattoo, police reported.

Police reported that 290 videos and/or photos of prepubescent child pornography were found on one of Garner’s cellphones, with 43 of those made by Garner involving known victims.

In addition to the 45 felony counts of child pornography and 43 felony counts of photograph/film/depict on computer sex act with a child, Garner was charged with four felony counts of design/copy obscene material depicting a minor, two felony counts each of disseminating child sexual abuse material and corruption of minors, a felony count of criminal attempt – involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child and seven misdemeanor counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.