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Mark Giaque ReportingCrime investigators will tell you they sometimes catch crooks in surprising ways.
Sometimes they make it easy by sharing the evidence of their crimes with others. It happens in the world of child pornography. And in some cases, witnesses are required by law to come forward.
"We catch people in the strangest ways." And Ken Wallentine of the Utah Attorney General's office is glad they do.
In Utah and in numerous cases around the country, people have been arrested and charged after taking a computer containing child pornography in for repair. It's why the Attorney General has been delivering letters to shops, reminding them they're legally bound to report any evidence of child endangerment.
"This is very similar to what we were doing twenty years ago. But twenty years ago, we were taking those letters to the photo developers around town."
But Wallentine says that doesn't mean they're asking people to snoop.
"We do not ask people to go and look in hard drive or look at disks with the specific objective of finding child pornography or anything unlawful on the computer."
He says he's not surprised someone possessing child porn would need repairs.
"Ironically, what we find is that many times, purveyors of child pornography are also purveyors of terrible viruses."
Dan Edmund, part owner of Abcan Computers agrees. He says he personally has never come across child porn, but if asked by a customer, he will look.
"They will request some work to be done to their computers and while we're there on site, then they ask to check out their computers because of suspicion that their children have been look at child porn."
Edmund says that many times, suspicions are confirmed.
"I would say about fifty percent of the time," and adds he's surprised at the young age of children accessing porn sites.
"I would say that 10 or 11 is a common age. But you get into 13 or 14, it is over with."
As for the illegal stuff, they would have to report it. Some advocates claim that such laws are an invasion of privacy. Walletine strongly disagrees and says the Utah law has been on the books for years.
