Man tried to eat memory cards filled with child porn while he was at NC jail, feds say
A federal jury returned a guilty verdict on Tuesday against a 31-year-old man accused of trying to eat several memory cards while he was being processed at a county jail in North Carolina.
Now he faces up to two decades behind bars.
David Sierra Orozco was found guilty of possessing child pornography after a two-day trial in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said Tuesday in a news release. The charges against him carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Defense attorneys representing Orozco, who is a Mexican citizen, declined to comment in an email to McClatchy News on Tuesday.
According to the government’s release, deputies with the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office pulled over Orozco on July 25, 2017, in Dunn, North Carolina, which is about an hour south of Raleigh on I-40.
He was driving a Lexus at the time, and prosecutors said deputies discovered the registered owner had an expired license. Orozco was also reportedly seen drifting over the center lane.
Orozco gave deputies his Mexican consular ID but did not have a valid driver’s license, according to the release.
“Officers noticed that Orozco appeared extremely nervous — he was sweating profusely despite the air conditioner on high and was shaking uncontrollably,” prosecutors said.
They also saw “tool marks” on the instrument panel indicative of a hidden compartment in the dashboard, the release states. A police dog was called to search the car, and more than $111,000 in cash wrapped up in grocery bags was subsequently discovered in the secret compartment, officials said.
Deputies placed Orozco under arrest on charges of driving without a license and brought him to the Harnett County jail, prosecutors said.
While he was being searched during processing, prosecutors said several MicroSD memory cards fell out of a folded $100 bill that was removed from Orozco’s pocket.
“Orozco lunged for the floor, picked up what appeared to be two memory cards, and put them in his mouth,” Tuesday’s release states. “Officers recovered one chewed half of a memory card from his mouth and three intact cards from the floor.”
Law enforcement found 261 videos and two images of child pornography on one of the memory cards, 14 videos on another, and five thumbnails on his smart phone, the release says. Prosecutors said most of the videos and images showed kids younger than 12 — including one that reportedly showed a child in a sex act with a chicken.
The devices also contained photos Orozco had taken of himself, according to the release.
Orozco was indicted on federal charges in March 2019 and arrested shortly thereafter, court filings show.
Prosecutors had requested he be held in jail pending trial, saying at a hearing that Orozco “clearly was in possession of what was some very disturbing images of child pornography.” They also argued he was a flight risk given his lack of family or connections to the area and said he posed a risk to the community.
“It’s the position of the government that anyone who is engaged in child pornography in crimes against children present an ongoing threat against the population,” prosecutors said during the hearing.
But Orozco’s defense attorneys pointed out he spoke almost no English and questioned whether he could have consented to the search of his vehicle. They also called it “a very unusual child pornography case.”
“Your Honor, he is a person that has absolutely no criminal history,” his attorneys said. “He’s never been arrested before. We would ask that you consider some other kind of other placement, like a halfway house, instead of straight detention.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge James E. Gates disagreed, saying Orozco’s attempt at swallowing the SD cards indicated he knew what was on them and that it was wrong.
Orozco’s trial began Monday with a Spanish interpreter before District Judge James C. Dever III, court documents show. Prosecutors said he is scheduled to be sentenced during the court’s June session.
