« Sexual abuse of a child is not homosexual activity? It's child abuse. | Main | Sex-offender priory angers neighbors »
April 09, 2005
Washington man accused in child-sex case
A Washington man was arraigned Friday on charges stemming from his alleged rape of two children and dealings in child pornography.
Daniel Layton Segen, 44, of 60 S. Main St., faces numerous charges, including rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, corruption of minors and sexual abuse of children for what authorities said was his involvement in the production of child pornography involving an 11-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy.
He was arraigned before District Judge Valarie Costanzo in Cecil Township and placed in Washington County Jail on $250,000 cash bond.
According to an affidavit filed with Costanzo by state police Troopers Glenn Bard and John LaRoche, the investigation into Segen began when America OnLine contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to report that on several dates in October 2004 various e-mails containing pornographic images originating from Segen's e-mail address were transmitted through their Internet servers.
The attached photographs were compared with and matched to known child pornography images, and the information was forwarded to NCMEC, which confirmed the subject of the photographs was under the age of 18. A court order revealed the e-mail address was that of Segen, the affidavit states.
AOL contacted NCMEC later in October 2004 to report more child pornography images were sent from another e-mail address belonging to Segen, according to court records.
After Segen was identified as a suspect, the case was handed over to Detective Lynn Havelka of the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office and Pennsylvania State Police Area III Computer Crimes Task Force. Together, the two offices worked to locate Segen's residence – The George Washington.
After receiving information from the Allegheny County DA's office Thursday, Bard recognized one of the photographs, having prosecuted previous offenders for being in possession of them. He then sought a search warrant for Segen's known address, court records state.
On Friday, Bard, along with members of the Pittsburgh High Tech Crimes and Area III Computer Crimes task forces, arrived at The George Washington only to discover that Segen had moved to another apartment in the hotel.
The officers proceeded to that apartment, where they found Segen and the 11-year-old girl, who was lying on the floor.
Segen allegedly admitted he possessed child pornography and that his e-mail address was the same as those in question. He then gave consent for the officers to perform a forensic examination of his computer system, the affidavit states.
Havelka said she began speaking to the girl, who told the detective that Segen filmed her frequently, according to court documents.
Bard saw dozens of videotapes in the apartment, but Segen refused to give consent for officers to search the tapes, only the computer. Bard realized a second search warrant would be necessary.
While Bard was obtaining a second search warrant from District Judge Jay Weller, Officer Robert Jones of the Computer Crimes Task Force, who remained with Segen, contacted Bard to inform him that Segen allegedly confessed there would be videotapes of the girl performing oral sex on him.
At the same time, Allegheny County Police Detective Timothy Haney found on Segen's computer images of two girls about 8 to 12 years old, "naked, provocatively posed and exposing their genitals," the affidavit states.
Meanwhile, through conversation with the girl, Havelka discovered one of Segen's friends, "Dwayne," slept over and had slept on the couch with the girl.
Upon returning with the second search warrant, Bard viewed one of the videos, which depicted the 11-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy engaged in sexual intercourse, oral intercourse and various other sexual scenarios. Segen also allegedly confessed that he had sexually assaulted both the girl and boy and filmed several of the acts.
Later on Friday, state police and Washington County Children and Youth Services interviewed the girl, who stated she had, over the past four years or more, been engaged in sexual activity with Segen, and on some occasions Segen would encourage her to have sex with the 12-year-old boy while he filmed them, the affidavit states.
State police and county CYS also on Friday interviewed the boy, who confirmed statements the girl made to police and that on two occasions Segen performed oral sex on him, court records state.
Segen then provided a written confession that he not only sexually assaulted the two minors but that he was trading in child pornography and had someone who would pay $500 for a tape of the two children naked, the affidavit states.
Segen was silent as he left Costanzo's courtroom and offered no comment on his alleged actions.
He not only lived but worked as a full-time cook at The George Washington, according to building owner Kyrk Pyros.
"In no way is this a reflection on The George Washington," Pyros said. "It was obviously a self-contained act. We complied completely with the police and authorities, and the situation is now done."
Segen's preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Washington County Central Court.
Posted by Nealus at April 9, 2005 12:07 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
