Concord Man Indicted on Child Pornography Charges

A local man is expected to be in court next week to face allegations that he shared and requested child pornography pictures online, according to an indictment.

James Lauze, 30, of Newton Avenue in Concord, has been charged with and indicted on 12 felony child pornography charges.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Merrimack County Superior Court. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

According to court filings, on Sept. 26, 2014, a Concord Police detective received a tip from the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that a local resident with an AOL account had allegedly emailed an image of “child sexual exploitation” on Aug. 13, 2014. The incident was caught by AOL and employees there submitted the information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The photo, according to a search warrant request, allegedly featured a young girl – possibly around 5-years-old, according to the report – without any clothing on, on a bed, with a sex toy, according to the detective’s report. The image was sent using an iPhone to another person on Craigslist. The Craigslist user responded back that the picture was “hot” and requested more pictures as well as an invitation to chat over Skype or telephone.

“Tell you what I think about your pics you send,” the person on Craigslist reportedly stated.

The Craigslist person also suggested meeting for a sexual encounter and the suspect allegedly responded that he was from Concord Heights, would let the other party see things, in person, if that party shared more photos.

AOL’s legal department reportedly provided the detective with the user account information – allegedly Lauze – and stated he had had an AOL account since November 2004. The account was terminated the day after the child sex image was allegedly sent. AOL also submitted the suspect’s IP address that came back to a Comcast account in Concord.

A grand jury subpoena was obtained and Comcast gave the detective the name of a relative that owned that account and that Lauze reportedly had a user account with Comcast. The detective was able to connect other information about the home to Lauze, who had been living there since October 2010, and had no previous criminal history, according to the indictment.

The detective filed for a search warrant on Nov. 25, 2014, to search the Newton Avenue home, Lauze’s SUV, and his persons, which included any and all computer hardware, books, hard drives and disks, photos, and/or videos.

When the search warrant was implemented, police reportedly seized a Kindle, two laptops, digital cameras, an iPod, storage cases, USB drives, an iPhone, an iPad, a storage case with items, CD, photos, and other items. They also took pictures inside the home, according to the indictment.

On the same day that the search warrant was issued, detectives spoke with Lauze at his place of employment and he agreed to speak with them about their investigation, his living arrangements, family, and other information, according to the indictment. They also spoke to others as part of the investigation.

A second detective then began examining the electronic devices that were seized and allegedly found “several photographs and videos of females appearing young in age,” according to the indictment. The photos were both “suggestive” and “sexually explicit” in nature, the allegation stated.

Due to some of the other things detectives allegedly saw in the photos and found out as part of the investigation, it led them to request another search warrant of the home on Dec. 5, 2014, which included swabs from inside the home as well as items, according to the indictment.

Lauze is due in Merrimack Court Superior Court on Jan. 20, 2016.