Charges revived, expanded in child porn case

SANDPOINT — Child pornography charges have been reinstated and expanded against a former Sandpoint man.

Jerry Allan Horner is charged with six counts of distributing child pornography, 26 counts of possession of child pornography, aiding and abetting an infamous crime against nature and possession of methamphetamine.

A preliminary hearing in the case is pending. Horner, who relocated to Spokane, Wash., is free on his own recognizance while the case is pending.

Horner, 48, was issued a summons to appear in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Friday. However, the summons was sent to Horner’s former address and his Spokane defense attorney, Doug Phelps, appeared in his stead, court records indicate.

Horner is accused of offering for download child porn via a peer-to-peer computer file-sharing network in May of last year, which prompted an investigation by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The investigation culminated in a November 2012 search of his former Oak Street home.

The search turned computers and digital storage devices which contained videos and still images of child pornography, court records allege. The search also yielded meth and a video of Horner’s wife engaged in a sex act with a dog.

Horner was originally charged with six counts of sharing child porn and five counts of possession child porn, although the case was dismissed in Idaho’s 1st District Court in March amid expectation that he would be prosecuted in U.S. District Court.

It was not immediately clear why the case reemerged in state court, although the criminal complaint has been expanded significantly to include more child porn possession charges. Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall did not immediately respond Friday to a message seeking comment.

The 11-page criminal complaint alleges Horner possessed more than 20 different video clips, which amounted to more than four hours of child pornography. Horner is accused of allowing other people to download some of the material remotely through the file-sharing network, court documents allege.

Task force investigators determined Horner was sharing the material by filing subpoenas that revealed his Internet Protocol addresses, the numeric labels assigned to his computer devices, court documents indicate.

Kimberly Lynn Horner, Jerry Horner’s 49-year-old wife, is awaiting trial on the beastiality charge in 1st District Court. She pleaded not guilty to the felony and is scheduled to be tried in December.