Troopers arrest Palmer man for child porn

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers looking for criminals on file-sharing servers snagged a Palmer man in their net this month.

Nicholas Morike, 31, was arrested at a downtown Palmer hotel Jan. 4 and charged with distributing child pornography.

In charging documents filed in court, Assistant District Attorney Trina Sears lays out the events leading up to Morike’s arrest. According to Sears, a pair of Alaska State Trooper investigators in Anchorage were searching the Ares file-sharing network as part of a “proactive investigation” for child pornography.

On Sept. 14, 2012, they found one they could tell was using Matanuska Telephone Association as an Internet provider and from which they “were able to download a total of five complete and four partial video and image files,” the court documents say.

The pictures and videos depicted underage boys being sexually abused by older men.

A warrant got troopers access to MTA’s records. Tracking the computer’s IP address pointed them to an apartment on Cottonwood Avenue. Next, they got a warrant for the apartment, which they served Dec. 12, snatching up computers, hard drives, mobile phones and portable storage devices.

“The examination revealed evidence of over 400 notable images that met the statutory definition of sexually exploited children,” Sears says.

Investigators found four of the files they’d gotten from the computer on the Ares servers and were able to determine they were the same files.

Troopers interviewed Morike Dec. 27.

“Morike stated that many of the items seized during the search warrant belonged to his girlfriend,” Sears says. “He did admit to having images of child pornography on his computers; however, Morike claimed he downloaded child pornography images from a Russian website.”

His bail was set at $35,000 and he was booked into the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility. Jail records Thursday afternoon showed he was still there.

His criminal record is somewhat spotty. In 2006 in Kenai, he pleaded guilty to evidence tampering in a case in which he was also initially charged with scheming to defraud, though the latter charge was later dropped. In 2003 in Anchorage, he pleaded guilty to scheming to defraud. In 2002, back in Kenai, he pleaded no contest and was convicted of a troika of theft charges. Also in Kenai in 2000 he pleaded guilty to assault, reckless driving and failure to give notice of a car accident.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.