NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man was convicted Friday of attempted receipt of obscene pictures depicting the sexual abuse of children, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence and penalties for a registered sex offender, according to the Department of Justice.
According to court records, Elmer Eychaner III, 46, was previously convicted in federal court of child pornography crimes in 2008. In June 2016, Eychaner began a period of federal supervision in the Eastern District of Virginia, WTKR reported.
Originally, Eychaner was not allowed to have a computer, but he asked for a computer so that he could look for a better job. The probation office allowed him to have a computer that was monitored through a third-party company called RemoteCOM.
According to the Department of Justice, Eychaner went onto his government-monitored computer and searched for obscene cartoon images depicting the sexual abuse of children. He used voice recognition software, Cortana, to try to get past the computer-monitoring software. After he was done searching for the cartoons, he deleted his search history.
The next day, he called his federal probation officer and confessed. When the probation officer told him she was coming to take his computer away, he admitted he took out the hard drive and threw it down a storm drain.
Eychaner previously was convicted of promoting obscenity to minors in North Dakota on August 21, 1992, and gross sexual imposition in North Dakota on May 10, 1994.
Eychaner faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison when sentenced on August 23.
