Sex offender pleads guilty to child porn possession

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By Ann McGlynn | Thursday, July 24, 2008 3:33 PM CDT | () comments

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Paul Wells Ruling

A registered sex offender who went to live in Panama after police in Davenport found child pornography in his computer pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court, Davenport.

Paul Warren Wells III, 41, entered the plea on one condition: that he will be allowed to appeal a denial of a motion to suppress evidence in his case.

Wells faces at least five years in prison, and as much as 40 years, Judge John Jarvey told him while accepting his plea of guilty to two counts involving the files found on his computer.

Wells reported a home invasion and robbery at his residence in July 2003. He was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries. During the investigation, police found child pornography on Wells’ computer.

Four days later, Wells, his wife, Velky, their 5-year-old daughter and Velky Wells’ parents left for Panama. Velky Wells is a native of that country.

An analysis of the computer found 20 photographs and 15 videos of child pornography and nine videos of bestiality.

Wells was arrested and brought back to the United States from Panama late last year. After his indictment in federal court, he contested the search of his apartment in 2003. A computer analysis revealed that a police officer lied in his accounting of the events leading up to the discovery of the child pornography and the granting of a search warrant.

Detective Lance Denger said that during a search of the apartment for drug-related items, he bumped a table and an image came up on the screen. An analysis showed he actually opened the file.

However, Judge Jarvey denied Wells’ request, saying that the written request for a search warrant contained all truthful statements.

“The fact that Officer Denger later fabricated a report about the sequence of events does not change the truth of the statements made in support of the warrant and the fabrication was done after the warrant was signed,” Jarvey wrote.

Jarvey rejected Wells’ contention that Velky Wells did not know English well enough to consent to a search of the apartment.

He also ruled that Denger did not exceed the scope of the Velky Wells’ consent when he opened three images of child porn on the computer.

“While purposeful searching for images of child pornography would have been outside the scope of Ms. Wells’s consent, Officer Denger’s discovery of the photographs was inadvertent and did not constitute an abandonment of the authorized search. He appropriately halted the search and obtained a new search warrant for evidence of child pornography,” Jarvey wrote.

Wells also pleaded guilty to being absent from custody and failing to register as a sex offender in Scott County District Court. He was sentenced to five years in prison on each charge.

Wells is a registrant on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry. The first conviction listed is a 1987 conviction for indecent exposure.

In 1993, a then-25-year-old Wells was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl on several occasions in hotels, his car and his parents’ house, court documents state. The incidents were “too numerous to name” and lasted for about a year. Wells pleaded guilty and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

In 1997, he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender and sent to jail for 240 days.

In 2000, he was convicted of third-degree burglary and sent to prison for up to five years.

A federal sentencing date has not yet been set.

Ann McGlynn can be contacted at (563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.