S-R worker may have downloaded child porn

Spokane police are investigating the possibility that a Spokesman-Review employee used company computers to download child pornography.

Search warrant documents filed Thursday in Spokane County District Court say numerous sexually explicit photographs and movies of children as young as 5 were found on a computer assigned to online producer Zachary L. Likarich.

Likarich, 28, was fired Jan. 22, the same day court documents say the newspaper’s online publisher, Ken Sands, and an attorney reviewed the contents of a computer that had been assigned to Likarich.

Spokesman-Review spokeswoman Kathleen Coleman said she couldn’t comment on the reasons for Likarich’s dismissal, “but you should be able to figure that out.” She said Likarich was hired Oct. 5, 2005, to work on the company’s Web site at spokes manreview.com.

Efforts to reach Likarich for comment Thursday night were unsuccessful.

Police Detective Jerry Keller said in a search warrant affidavit that the alleged child pornography was discovered by a newspaper photo archivist who had forgotten her iPod and was looking for music to play on her computer. Using the iTunes digital music program, the woman found porn when she opened a computer folder on the company’s internal network, Keller said.

The photo archivist reported finding titles referring to pedophilia and incest with children. The company traced the files to Likarich’s desktop computer and, on Jan. 19, Sands seized that machine and a laptop computer assigned to Likarich, Keller stated.

He said Sands locked up the computers and called police on Jan. 23, a day before officers collected them with a search warrant.

Keller said Sands described finding numerous photos of sexual activity involving prepubescent children on the desktop computer.

The photos included a man having sex with a girl who appeared to be about 12 years old, a woman having sex with a girl about 5 years old, and sex acts among children apparently ranging in age from 6 to 14, according to Keller’s affidavit.

Sands said he didn’t open any files on Likarich’s laptop computer but found a file with a name that referred to a sex act, Keller stated.

Coleman said none of the files could have been accessed by users of the spokesmanreview.com Web site.

“We have cooperated with the police through this whole matter, and it is in the hands of law enforcement now,” Coleman said. “We will monitor its progress through the system.”

Possession of child pornography is a Class C felony under state law, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. It also is against federal law, which carries penalties of five to 20 years in prison.

A check of Spokane County court records showed no convictions for Likarich.

The Spokesman-Review has a “very strongly stated policy” against misuse of company computer technology, Coleman said.

The policy forbids accessing pornography, online gambling, unauthorized solicitation, or defamatory or harassing activities among other offenses. Violation may result in dismissal, the policy warns.