Casper Man Charged With Child Pornography Possession

A Casper man charged in state district court with assaulting a pregnant woman also is charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, according to U.S. District Court records.

Wolf Duran, 24, heard the charges against him during his initial appearance in federal court in Casper on Thursday.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Michael Shickich ordered Duran detained. Duran will appear for his preliminary hearing and a formal detention hearing on Tuesday, according to minutes of the initial appearance.

If convicted on both counts, he faces up to 80 years imprisonment.

The government regards child pornography as a crime of violence because it involves often brutal assaults on children who are not able to give consent to sexual activity.

The case started March 13 when an agent of the Department of Homeland Security saw Duran had been arrested in Casper on a warrant unrelated to child pornography, according to an affidavit by an agent with the Casper office of the Wyoming Internet Crimes (ICAC) Against Children Task Force.

Duran was already a subject of an ICAC investigation in by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation in Cheyenne. The DCI had linked him to a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a child pornography image on a website.

The Homeland Security agent and the ICAC agent interviewed Duran at the county jail. Duran initially denied having an interest in child pornography, but later admitted to possessing and distributing hundreds of images and videos.

Duran told the agents the images could be found on micro-SD cards that were in his possessions at the jail. An agent asked a deputy at the jail to see Duran's property and found SD cards and three cell phones.

After a Natrona County Circuit Court judge granted her a search warrant, the agent analyzed a phone and an SD card. On the phone, she found 23 images of Duran's face and four videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

On the SD card, she found 17 images with Duran's face, 208 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, 87 videos, and seven images and one video of minors engaged in S&M pornography, according to the affidavit.

Meanwhile, Duran had been charged in Natrona County District Court with one felony count of aggravated assault and battery on a pregnant woman, and a misdemeanor count of battery.

That case began in January when police responded to a call about a family fight at an apartment on East 12th Street. The woman who called 911 said her uncle, Duran, hit her and ran from the area, according to the police affidavit filed with circuit court.

The woman and were boyfriend told an officer they were at the residence where they had lived and were there to pick up the rest of their belongings. Duran believed the couple owed him rent money, he and the woman began arguing, he punched her with a closed fist on the left side of her face, and then kicked her in the stomach. He was aware she was pregnant.

The boyfriend, who was outside the room at the time of the alleged assault, entered and wrestled Duran to the ground, and the woman called 911.

An officer later saw Duran walking to the apartment and asked about the incident. Duran told the officer that the man and woman had attacked him, but he didn't want to press charges.

The officer did not see any injuries to Duran, who was then arrested.

This case was bound over to district court on March 30, according to the indictment.

Duran remains in custody on a $15,000 bond.