CHARGED: West Allis school bus driver accused of possessing child porn

WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- A West Allis school bus driver has been charged, accused of possessing child pornography.

53-year-old William Casper faces two counts of possession of child pornography.

A criminal complaint filed against Casper says special agents with the Wisconsin DOJ, assigned to a task force investigating internet crimes against children discovered a computer or internet-capable device offering to participate in the distribution of known child pornography over a peer-to-peer file sharing network.

The computer's IP address was traced to a home in West Allis, owned by William Casper.

Agents performed surveillance on that residence, and then a search warrant was obtained and executed on August 20th -- during which law enforcement officials seized computers and non-commercial discs.

The complaint against Casper says a laptop computer found in the home was analyzed by a task force agent and discovered suspected child pornography in the form of two video files.

The complaint against Casper says when law enforcement officials executed the search warrant, Casper himself answered the door and verbally identified himself as William Casper.

During an initial interview with law enforcement officials, Casper told them he has never downloaded movies from the internet -- saying he doesn't visit websites due to a fear of getting a virus, according to the complaint. The complaint says Casper denied using the internet to obtain adult pornography, and denied using any sort of file sharing software.

The complaint says Casper told officials his wife has used his computer for business -- saying he has never used his wife's laptop. Casper told officials no one else uses the computers in his home, to his knowledge. The complaint says Casper also denied using file sharing networks.

The complaint says agents were able to discover proof that file sharing, peer-to-peer software was being used in the home, and Casper was again asked about it. He again denied using file sharing software. Casper also denied having any knowledge of any child pornography that may be on the laptop found in his home.

That's when Casper was arrested.

Casper was interviewed at the West Allis Police Department -- where he admitted to using file sharing software -- but only for music. The complaint says Casper told officials he may have accidentally downloaded child pornography while trying to download music.

Officials interviewed Casper's wife, who said Casper has been a school bus driver in the West Allis area for 23 years.

The complaint says Casper's wife told officials the laptop on which the alleged child pornography was discovered used to be hers, but she said she gave the laptop to Casper 10 months ago, when she got a newer computer.

The complaint says Casper's wife told officials she had never seen any activity on the computers that would cause her to believe Casper was viewing or downloading child pornography -- even asking whether it was possible someone hacked into the computer and downloaded the child pornography.

The complaint says the charges filed against Casper are based on the preliminary analysis of digital devices seized from Casper's home -- and doesn't exhaust the information and evidence in this case.