Ripon Police Conclude Investigations Into Child Porn Possession
1 February 2022 News
Ripon Police have concluded their investigations into suspected child pornography possession and the death of the suspect last October. The Department on October 16th received a CyberTip from the state’s Department of Justice-Department of Criminal Investigation Internet Crimes Against Children Internet unit. The tip connected suspected child pornography to Richard Kelm, a Ripon Area School District teacher and coach, as a possible owner. Initial search warrants and electronic previews at Kelm’s private residence yielded nothing. Additional search warrants were obtained on October 27th for items seized from the initial search of the residence and for social media accounts for several cloud storage and internet providers. On October 28th Kelm was found dead near his residence. The death was ruled a suicide. After account information was analyzed approximately 400 images of child pornography were found in the account. Kelm was identified as the account holder. He would have faced significant criminal charges. No one else was involved in the downloading of sexually explicit child images. The investigation found there was no evidence that there was any involvement, of any current or former Ripon Area School District staff or students, and none were represented in any of the images that were recovered.
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