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BARRON COUNTY -- Charges have been filed against a 23-year-old Barron, WI man alleging that he possessed and distributed child pornography following an investigation that spanned several months.
The Barron County Sheriff’s Department as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received an assignment from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to investigate the upload of a video containing suspected child pornography. Investigating Detectives reviewed the video and found that it contained footage of an adult male engaged in sexual intercourse with a prepubescent female.
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The IP address associated with this upload was found to be associated with a residence in Cameron, WI. A search warrant for the residence was obtained and executed in January 2022. The results of that warrant and information gained during their investigation led Detectives to Derek Salewski as the person suspected of uploading the video.
Detectives obtained a search warrant to search Salewski’s cell phone. The criminal complaint filed against Salewski states that a Detective served the warrant on Salewski at his place of employment and explained that the purpose of the warrant was to seize the phone and search it for child pornography. While this process was being explained to him, Salewski became extremely nervous and his legs began shaking uncontrollably before he seemed to lose consciousness and pass out briefly while falling to the floor. After Salewski regained consciousness and it was determined that he was not in need of medical attention, the phone was turned over to an analyst from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, Digital Forensic Unit for analysis.
An interview was also conducted with Salewski on that same date. Salewski provided numerous pieces of information to law enforcement, including passwords and an emails address. Salewski specifically said that he did not use a social media platform called Kik on that particular cell phone and that he had not used it in several years. Forensic analysis of the phone showed that Kik had been repeatedly installed and uninstalled on the phone as often as every few days. The analysis also showed usernames similar in format to the information that Salewski had already provided to Detectives.
The forensic analysis of the phone also allegedly revealed that on January 7, 2022, Salewski had played a media file entitled “6yo [****] Blowjob Daddy In Bathroom [C**shot in Face!]” on the cell phone while using an encrypted and cloud-based file sharing service. An email was also located in the cell phone associating Salewski’s email address with the sharing service.
Detective applied for another search warrant to search Salewski’s account with the file-sharing service, and that warrant was obtained in March 2022 and executed. The criminal complaint filed against Salewski states that immediately upon gaining access to his account, Detectives located a file that displayed a thumbnail image showing the exposed genitalia of a prepubescent female child. Multiple folders with names such as “under 18 girl nude pics” and containing data were located within the account. Another thumbnail image of a nude prepubescent female child was also located by Detectives.
An additional search warrant was applied for and obtained to search the information retrieved from the file-sharing account. The criminal complaint states that over 7,000 files were located, in dozens of folders. The initial examination of those files by Detectives allegedly revealed that all of the files are either pictures or videos and that the majority of them appear to consist of child sexual assault material or child pornography.
The criminal complaint against Salewski goes on to allege that he utilized another online platform to upload over a dozen other files containing child pornography depicting prepubescent females, with genitals exposed and/or engaged in a sexual act. The data obtained during their investigation indicated that Salewski allegedly shared 32 files with approximately 754 different users of the platform.
Detailed descriptions of the child pornography located by investigating Detectives during the investigation against Salewski are included in the criminal complaint filed against him, however, DrydenWire.com has chosen to not include that information in this post.
Salewski was interviewed again in April 2022 and he continued to deny the allegations against him. Salewski is charged with Class C Felony Child Sexual Exploitation - Produce, Perform, etc. (distribution of a recording of a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct); and Class D Felony Possession of Child Pornography.
At a hearing on April 18, 2022, the Hon. James Babler placed Salewski on a $1,000 cash bond. Conditions of bond prohibit Salewski from accessing the internet. He is scheduled to appear again on April 20, 2022.
Pursuant to the direction of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as found in Supreme Court Rule 20:3.6, Trial Publicly, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Last Update: Apr 19, 2022 8:28 am CDT
