Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Lawyer: Metro officer had no knowledge of child porn images

James Henry

COURTESY / Metro Police

James Henry faces 10 counts of possession of child pornography and 10 counts of distribution of child pornography.

Updated Friday, Oct. 24, 2014 | 2:29 p.m.

A defense attorney denied Friday that a 37-year-old Las Vegas police officer knew about allegedly pornographic images that prompted Google to alert the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

James William Henry stood flanked by two jail guards in a Las Vegas courtroom before his attorney, Louis Schneider, arrived for his initial appearance on 20 child pornography possession and distribution charges that could put him prison for decades.

Schneider said outside court he thinks it's possible that someone else uploaded the images that Google flagged. He said they will fight the charges.

"There's nothing on his home computers, nothing on his smartphone," Schneider said. "I don't know what happened yet. These pictures could possibly have been placed there by someone else."

Schneider characterized his client as stunned by the charges against him.

The attorney said he wants to review police arrest reports and will ask Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman on Monday to set bail so Henry can be freed pending resolution of the case.

Henry was suspended without pay following his arrest Thursday, and is being held without bail at the Clark County jail.

Henry is a 12-year police veteran and was assigned to patrol the Las Vegas Convention Center and Strip area before his arrest.

Court records show he was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim.

Deputy Las Vegas Police Chief Al Salinas told reporters Thursday the tip from Google was investigated by a regional multi-agency Internet crimes against children task force before a warrant was issued for Henry's arrest.

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