Staff Report

Russell Lee Gagnon

COLUMBIA CITY — A Columbia City man was recently arrested after officers found 100 photos of child pornography on his phone.

Russell Lee Gagnon, 56, 301 E. Jefferson St. Apartment 1, Columbia City, is charged with two counts of child exploitation, both level 4 felonies; two counts of possession of child pornography with aggravating factors, both level 5 felonies; and two counts of possession of child pornography, both level 6 felonies.

On Feb. 5, officers received information from the FBI about someone possessing child pornography. The FBI’s statement said the department received child pornography from a user on a dating app. According to court documents, the Internet Protocol (IP) address returned to Gagnon as the account user.

On Feb. 9, officers interviewed Gagnon about the allegations.

When asked about using the dating app, Gagnon said he used the app to talk and make friends. He said that users’ ages are listed in their profiles and that supposedly, no one under the age of 18 uses the app. Gagnon said that whenever anyone underage messages him, he deletes the messages and blocks the users.

Officers explained that the FBI sent them four images deemed child pornography that were sent to Gagnon’s IP address. Gagnon said he still had the app on the phone and gave officers permission to look at screenshots he had.

While going through the phone, officers found pictures of girls under the age of 18, as well as a few of girls under the age of 12. Officers also found inappropriate pictures of Gagnon on the phone.

Gagnon said people sent the images of the girls to him and that he screenshotted the images.

Officers took Gagnon to the Columbia City Police Department to continue the interview. Gagnon said he used the dating app about once a week but described it as a “porn site,” saying it’s full of scammers distributing child pornography and asking for phone numbers to get money.

Gagnon agreed to an Indiana State Police investigator taking his phone to search the device further.

When asked why he took screenshots of the images, Gagnon said, “Honestly I don’t know. It was just a picture.” He said he did not inappropriately touch himself while looking at the images and said he took the screenshots and forgot about them.

In regard to the inappropriate pictures of himself on his phone, Gagnon said he sent them to women who were over the age of 20.

Officers questioned Gagnon about a message from his account asking if anyone had pictures of “little girls” engaging in sexual activity. He said he didn’t remember but that there’s a possibility he sent that message. When asked why he continued to use the app if it was full of scammers, Gagnon said it was because there were women over the age of 21 he did speak with.

He also said it was possible that he did distribute the screenshots to other people on the app but that he wasn’t sure. When asked why he would send the screenshots to others, Gagnon said it was because the people he messaged specifically wanted photos of underage people.

On Feb. 10, officers went through Gagnon’s phone at the Columbia City Police Department. While searching the phone, officers found 29 separate images of children under the age of 12; and 71 images of children between the ages of 12 and 18. All of the images were of young girls in a state of nudity engaged in various forms of sexual activity.

Gagnon was booked in the Whitley County Jail on May 20, with a $50,000 surety bond.