Woman sought in connection with child pornography

Keith Paul

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 | 11:33 a.m.

Metro Police are searching for a woman connected to a 64-year-old Las Vegas man charged with child pornography. Police believe she is in her 20s and may go by the name Blanch.

Donald Dustman, 64, was charged in April with a slew of crimes after an 18-year-old Las Vegas woman contacted police and accused Dustman of having sexual contact with her since she was 11 years old, police said.

Detectives, armed with a search warrant, went through a storage unit rented by Dustman and found about 1,000 pornographic Polaroid photos of young girls and several pornographic videos involving young girls. Dustman allegedly produced those videos, said Sgt. Ralph Hemington of the sex abuse unit.

The pictures dated back to the early 1990s.

"We don't have any indication that they were distributed in any way," Hemington said.

Police have an old picture of a woman they want to identify and question in connection with the production of the pornography. The woman was believed to be at least 18 at the time of the picture and now may be in her late 20s, police said. She used the name Blanch.

Anyone with information on the identity of the woman or her whereabouts is asked to call the sexual assault unit at 229-3421 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

After the 18-year-old woman made her allegations against Dustman, police were able to identify some other girls from the pictures and talk with them, Hemington said.

"They were children he was somewhat responsible for taking care of," Hemington said. "People used him as a baby sitter. They were children of friends and people he knew."

Dustman was charged on April 16 with 78 counts, including sexual assault of a victim under 16, possession of child pornography and use of a minor in the production of pornography, police said.

Police accused Dustman of using local motels and apartments for the settings in the videos and pictures.

Dustman apparently didn't have any previous sex-crimes arrests and was not in the convicted sex offender database, police said.

Police use the database to help keep track of sex offenders, especially those who target children.

"Studies have shown the recidivism rate for sex offenders (who target children) is exceedingly high," Lt. Tom Monahan of the sexual assault unit said.

The only way to ensure that sex offenders who target children stop their attacks is to "apprehend them, prosecute them and incarcerate them," Monahan said.