Homeless Man, Formerly Of Allenstown, Arraigned On 10 Child Sexual Abuse Images Charges

CONCORD, NH — A homeless man living out of his car in the capital region has been arrested and arraigned on child sexual abuse image charges.

After a multi-month investigation, Brian Ayala, 33, was arrested by police on 10 felony possession counts.

Concord police in early May received a tip about a possible child pornography video file being shared on Discord in early February from an IP address in Concord.

The suspect’s phone number was included in the tip, a Protonmail email address and other data. According to an affidavit, Discord viewed the file and confirmed its illegality.

The Concord detective requested and received a search warrant of the Discord account and the Comcast IP address, leading to “over 200 images and videos” of animated and CGI content “tied to both accounts.” The detective requested a search warrant from T-Mobile for the cell phone number, which led to Ayala, and information from Comcast, which led to a building on Bartlett Street in Allenstown, an affidavit stated. Ayala, the report said, also owned a Hyundai Santa Fe.

“As a result of the suspect being identified as residing in Allenstown,” the report said, “(the) detective requested the case be reassigned.”

The case was then transferred to the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office.

A detective there, working with Allenstown police, confirmed, at the time, that Ayala lived on Bartlett Street, and the Comcast account holder did, too, an affidavit said. The detective said law enforcement knew the wi-fi and Internet were shared in the building, the report stated.

In late June, the detective, Allenstown police, and members of the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force prepared search warrants for Ayala, his vehicle, and the building’s router. The warrants were issued to him after he left the building — with police stopping his vehicle, searching it, and seizing his phone, the report said.

After that search, a detective contacted the owners of the building. During an interview, the owner said Ayala had moved to the area from California several years ago and moved in with people in the building, including a woman he was dating, a report stated. The report said she left a couple of years ago after they broke up but he remained in the apartment. The report said the building owner was “in disbelief” and “did not know what they were going to do” about the situation.

During the building search, Ayala was accused of showing up, but then he left. A couple of hours later, the report said Ayala called the detective to say he was kicked out of the building.

On July 25, investigators accused Ayala of possessing “thousands of child sex abuse image” files, including the 10 documented in the charges, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

At his arraignment in Merrimack County Superior Court, there was some back-and-forth between the prosecutor and a defense attorney concerning bail. The prosecuting attorney requested $10,000 cash bail, calling Ayala a danger with limited ties to the community who was homeless, living in his vehicle. The defense attorney said he had been in the area for eight years and had a steady job at Target in Concord. The judge decided on $2,000 cash bail, with the defense attorney requesting a future hearing to challenge the bail.

A dispositional conference has been scheduled for Sept. 14.

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