Four Busted for Child Pornography 

(Pierre) – Four South Dakota men were arrested yesterday for possession of child pornography. 

These arrests are the latest in a string of child pornography prosecutions executed by the Attorney General’s office. In the last three months, the Attorney General’s office has either arrested or assisted in the arrest of six South Dakota men who possessed child pornography. These investigations were headed up by the Attorney General’s office and South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation with the assistance of local law enforcement. The Governor’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit assisted in the analysis of computers that were seized. 

“This has been an intense and ongoing investigation. We have been examining evidence and executing search warrants at the same time. Some arrests were made immediately. This is not over. There will be more arrests,” said Chief Deputy Attorney General Larry Long. 

“This proves again how real this threat is in South Dakota, and we’ve probably just uncovered the tip of it so far,” Gov. Bill Janklow said. “With our ICAC unit we have the technology and human expertise to very quickly and very thoroughly examine what’s on these predators’ computers. This means we can strike back at them before they prey upon more kids.” 

The men arrested yesterday are James Jackson, Rapid City; Charles Paul Korstjens, Big Stone City; John Martin, Belle Fourche; and David Loren Wagner, Webster. A warrant is also out for the arrest of a Sioux Falls man who has fled the state. 

Images of child pornography were found on each of the men’s computers. All of the men were charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography. If found guilty, each man could face two years in prison, per count. 

The Butte, Day, Grant, Minnehaha, and Pennington Counties Sheriffs’ offices and State’s Attorney’s Offices and the Rapid City and Sioux Falls Police Departments aided in the investigations. 

The leads for the recent arrests came primarily out of Operation Avalanche. Operation Avalanche was a Texas Law Enforcement investigation of a child pornography website. Texas Law Enforcement forwarded the names of website subscribers to the home states of those subscribers. 

The leads stemming from Operation Avalanche led to the execution of 20 search warrants and 6 arrests in South Dakota. 

-30-