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September 17, 2005
Offender may face child-porn charges
SPOKANE — When federal charges are filed against convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III, they may include possession of child pornography, says a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Boise, Idaho.
Jean McNeil declined to say yesterday why Duncan might face those charges. However, a digital camera and a digital video recorder were found in Duncan's vehicle when he was arrested in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on July 2 in the company of 8-year-old Shasta Groene.
Duncan, 42, of Fargo, N.D., has pleaded innocent in Idaho state court to three counts of first-degree murder for the May bludgeoning deaths of Brenda Groene; her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie; and her 13-year-old son, Slade Groene, at the Groene's home near Coeur d'Alene. Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, allege he killed the three so he could kidnap Shasta and her brother, Dylan Groene, 9, for sexual purposes.
U.S. Attorney Tom Moss of Boise said Thursday that federal prosecutors will wait until the state case is over before charging Duncan in federal court with kidnapping Shasta and Dylan, killing Dylan, and possibly other crimes.
"Besides the kidnapping charges, we don't know for sure what else we will file," McNeil said in a telephone interview yesterday. "There are various possibilities, and one is child pornography."
Yesterday, Moss was said to be touring the remote campsite in Montana where Dylan's body was found.
Duncan is a registered sex offender who spent much of his adult life in prison for child molestation. While in prison in Washington, Duncan complained when officials barred him from getting magazines showing child pornography, prison records say.
At the time of his arrest, Duncan was on the run from a child-molestation charge in Minnesota.
According to court documents released this week, Duncan's stolen Jeep contained an extensive inventory of electronic equipment when he was arrested, including a laptop computer, digital camera, digital video camera, cellphones, a wireless card, memory cards and peripheral equipment.
Officials have refused to say what is on the cameras.
Duncan's trial on the state charges is to begin Jan. 17. Duncan remains in the Kootenai County Jail without bail. He also is being investigated in the killings of at least three other children.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Washington for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Tacoma boy in 1980.
Posted by Nealus at September 17, 2005 06:07 PM
