A woman recognized the couch fabric in a child pornography photo and helped police nab the molester, who happened to be her boyfriend at the time.
Peoria police report that on November 8 a woman was looking through her boyfriend's phone because she had suspicions that he was cheating. In the process of searching the phone, she found pornographic photos of a child.
As she looked at the photos more closely, she allegedly discovered that the fabric of the couch the child was sitting on was the same as the couch in her home.
She then contacted police who came to the home near 83rd Avenue and Cactus Road.
Police talked with the suspect, 31-year-old Laurence Robert Abbott, who reportedly told them that he was drinking with a friend the previous night. At one point the friend left for a few minutes to get more beer and asked Abbott to watch his preschool-aged daughter.
Abbott denied having any child porn on his phone. Police looked through the phone and confirmed that there was no child porn on it.
Later that day, police learned that Abbott was trying to get a family member to buy him a plane ticket out of town. He allegedly made a statement saying, "his life was over."
The girlfriend reportedly cooperated with police and called Abbott, who admitted to her that he took pornographic photos of the girl and then deleted them.
Police say they heard Abbott saying, "he was drunk at the time and blacked out." He also allegedly said, "I'm going to turn myself in for taking pictures of an underage child."
Abbott is being held on a $250,000 cash bond on charges of child molestation and sexual exploitation of a minor.
If you suspect a child is being abused, the Arizona Department of Child Services has resources available to report the issue to a social worker. You can call the Arizona Child Abuse Hotline at 1-888-SOS-CHILD (1-888-767-2445), and will be asked for information about the child, as well as the nature of your concerns. You can also get more information from DCS about reporting abuse or neglect online.
