Four charged in child porn investigation

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Two Prospect men and two Naugatuck men have been charged with possessing child pornography in separate investigations that began with information developed by Naugatuck detectives.

Richard Ugalde, 43, of 120 Waterbury Road, Prospect, and his nephew, Joshua C. Ugalde, 18, of the same address, were charged with first-degree possession of child pornography on warrants.

Richard Ugalde, who is currently incarcerated on a DWI offense, was served last Friday, when he was brought to Waterbury Superior Court. His case was transferred to Part A, where more serious crimes are heard, and his next court date is April 13.

Joshua Ugalde was charged last Thursday and later released on a $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear April 6 in court.

After two separate investigations in Naugatuck, Daniel Bolduc, 23, of 94 Summerfield St., was charged with first-degree possession of child pornography and importing child pornography. Shawn Gatten, 32, of 55 Porter Ave., was charged with second-degree possession of child pornography.

Bolduc was arraigned last Friday. Gatten was released on a $75,000 bond last Thursday and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

The investigation began in September, when Naugatuck Detective Ronald Blanchard received information about a computer that had downloaded 124 image files and about 43 video files of child pornography from Aug. 30, 2010, to Sept. 19, 2010, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. He investigated and found that computer at 120 Waterbury Road in Prospect.

Blanchard relayed that information to the Prospect Resident Trooper’s Office, and Prospect Officer Noreo A. Gabriel investigated with assistance from Naugatuck police, the affidavit states.

Prospect and state police with borough detectives executed a search and seizure warrant at Richard Ugalde’s home on Oct. 14, and seized 687 DVDs, three laptop computers, 1 ThinkPad computer and two cell phones, the affidavit states.

A computer seized from Richard Ugalde’s bedroom contained 96 images and 13 videos of child pornography with children between ages 10 and 13, and 15 images of “child erotica,” the affidavit states. Police found 39 additional images of child pornography with children ages from 12-15 on two DVDs seized from his bedroom.

Other computers and DVDs from the house had about 289 images and 73 videos that depicted images of children under age 16 showing sexually explicit conduct, according to the affidavit. Other videos showed males and females from ages 8 to 15 engaged in sexual acts with other children and adults, the affidavit states.

The Naugatuck arrests were the result of investigations in which borough detectives searched online file-sharing networks for residents possessing or sharing child pornography, court documents show.

After finding responses from computers with network identification numbers tracing them to the borough, Blanchard was able to seize electronics that contained images and videos of child pornography, according to court records.

In one case, Blanchard found a network identification address from 94 Summerfield St. offering to share about 140 files, some of which turned out to be videos of 8- to 12-year-old children engaged in sexual activity with other children and adults, according to court records. Detectives from the borough and Watertown searched the residence and found 53 such videos on a computer owned by Bolduc.

According to court records, Bolduc told police he was looking for videos with older subjects when the child pornography downloaded to Limewire, a file-sharing program he uses. Bolduc said he did not share the files but was too “lazy” to delete them.