Oahu man charged with producing, possessing child pornography

A 32-year-old Waipahu, Oahu, man has been indicted on three counts of producing child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography by a federal grand jury.

The federal grand jury returned the indictment Wednesday charging Derek M. West with the offenses. West was arraigned following the indictment and pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang, who ordered West detained without bail pending trial. His trial was set for Feb. 17, 2015, before District Judge Derrick K. Watson in Honolulu.

Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that according to a complaint and affidavit signed on Tuesday, the case began with a report to the Honolulu Police Department that child pornography had been found on West’s cellular telephone. The affidavit alleges police detectives obtained a search warrant for the telephone, and found approximately 482 images that depicted children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including a 2 year-old engaged in a sexual act with a person identified as West.

The detectives then contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation because some images were found in a computer application based in Canada, Nakakuni said. West was arrested on Tuesday by FBI agents and Honolulu Police Department officers.

If convicted of the charges in the indictment, West faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years as to each of the three production of child pornography counts, and up to ten years as to the possession of child pornography count. West, however, is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The arrest and charges resulted from a joint investigation conducted by the Honolulu Police Department, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong.