A man accused of impersonating a Lonoke County sheriff's deputy faces additional charges in the case after investigators reported finding child pornography on his computers.
Court filings show Sebastian Westerhold, 28, faces three felony counts of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. He also faces a charge of second-degree sexual assault over accusations that he touched a 16-year-old girl's genitals during a party at his Cabot home.
Westerhold has been in the Lonoke County jail since March 29, when deputies went to his home to investigate the sexual-assault accusation. He was not immediately charged with sexual assault. But deputies arrested him that day on charges of criminal impersonation and felony forgery after they found eight fraudulent driver's licenses and a fake Lonoke County sheriff's office ID with Westerhold's name and photo, according to a court affidavit.
Deputies kept those items as evidence, along with photography and printing equipment found in Westerhold's garage, authorities said.
Sheriff's office spokesman Capt. David Bufford said deputies also seized computers at the residence and sent the devices to the state Crime Laboratory for investigation. The Crime Lab found child pornography on the computers, Bufford said.
Bufford did not have further details. He said an investigation is ongoing.
"There was photos that the Crime Lab found," he said. "They're still looking into it, you know, putting together what type of charges to put on him."
Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore has sealed a court affidavit in the case, citing the involvement of a minor.
Westerhold is a German-born blogger and circuit design engineer who in August 2014 filed a lawsuit against Little Rock police over the department's encryption of radio communications. He filed the suit on claims that the department had violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act by refusing to provide him redacted recordings of the radio transmissions.
City attorneys have said the audio Westerhold requested was deleted 31 days after it was recorded, in compliance with the city's data-storage policy.
The most recent hearing in the lawsuit was held in March. Westerhold had been in jail more than four months when the filing deadline in the case passed Aug. 5. The case remains open, though no additional hearings have been scheduled.
A court affidavit states that Westerhold routinely listened in on the activities of law enforcement agencies and sometimes responded to crime scenes before Lonoke County sheriff's deputies. He was known to wear body armor and drive a vehicle equipped with emergency lights, according to the court filing.
Westerhold's next court date is set for Nov. 7.
Metro on 10/10/2016