Man kept child porn at county job, police say

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2004/jan/07/516135702.html

By Jen Lawson 
<lawson () lasvegassun com>
LAS VEGAS SUN
January 07, 2004 

A former Clark County employee was arrested Monday on charges of 
downloading more than 400 images of child pornography on his computer 
at the county Public Works Department.

The downloads apparently unleashed a virus that crippled the county's 
Internet system in August.

Carl Stanley Lobsien, 50, is facing 25 counts of possession of child 
pornography. He was being held this morning in the Clark County 
Detention Center on $75,000 bail.

A county employee since 1978, Lobsien was fired from his job as an 
engineering technician Sept. 9 after officials found the images on his 
computer, Erik Pappa, county spokesman, said.

"We were a little dismayed not only by his actions but by the amount 
of images he was able to download," Pappa said.

The images consisted of nude girls under the age of 16, and some 
showed them in sex acts with adult men, according to the police report 
obtained by the Sun.

The downloaded pornography led to at least one of the 
"denial-of-service" attacks on the county's computer system last 
summer, when the network crashed on several occasions because of 
viruses, the police report says.

Clark County's website, www.accessclarkcounty.com may be the most 
visited in the state of Nevada, according to county officials. The 
website attracted nearly 9 million visitors last July.

Last summer, at the time that police say Lobsien's downloading brought 
with it a virus that crashed the county system, the county's computer 
specialists were dealing with several different viruses and scrambling 
to apply "patches," or cyber-vaccinations, to the system.

Part of the problem, according to county employees then, was that the 
Clark County system was tied in a network with other computer systems 
for other local government agencies, including Metro's.

In those incidents, staffs at the various agencies disconnected links 
between the networks to isolate the problems. While Lobsien's imported 
virus could have disrupted the county's system Aug. 27, an attack 
apparently caused by another virus occurred Sept. 10, a day after the 
county had fired him.

That computer problem shut down outside access for residents and 
others seeking county information for most of the day. Similar 
problems a few weeks earlier is what prompted county staff to look 
for, and ultimately isolate, the problem to Lobsien's computer.

"The network was really slow so our technicians took a look at what 
was happening," Pappa said. "We're pretty happy that the computer 
technicians were able to locate the problem."

After county officials found the porn, they notified Detective Michael 
Castaneda of Metro's sexual assault unit and he began his 
investigation.

Castaneda seized Lobsien's work computer and obtained a warrant that 
permitted an officer with the Nevada Department of Public Safety's 
Nevada Cyber Crimes Task Force to conduct a forensic examination of 
it.

Police on Oct. 9 searched Lobsien's home near Rainbow Boulevard and 
Cheyenne Avenue for any possible child pornography, the police report 
says. However, no computer was found.

"Lobsien stated he was told by a member of his labor union to remove 
anything that might be connected to this investigation from his 
residence," the report says.

Representatives with the local chapter of the Service Employees 
International union did not return several phone calls on Tuesday and 
today seeking comment on Lobsien.

A warrant was issued Dec. 3 for Lobsien's arrest. He was taken into 
custody at his home about 9:40 p.m. Monday.

Although more than 400 pornographic images were found, Sgt. Russ 
Shoemaker of Metro's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said 
he felt charging him with 25 counts was sufficient.

Lobsien had no disciplinary actions taken against him in his 26 years 
as a county employee, Pappa said. He had no criminal record in Nevada 
prior to this arrest, the police report says.

Pappa said apparently no one in the Public Works Department was aware 
that Lobsien was downloading pornography in his county cubicle, which 
like many in the Clark County Government Center is in a relatively 
open area. Lobsien did land surveying but carried out his duties from 
his work station rather than in the field. He didn't have any contact 
with the public.

"He was pretty adept at hiding what he was doing," Pappa said. "He was 
able to get away with it for quite a while without any of his 
co-workers knowing about it."

Since the incident, the county has installed filtering software that 
prevents easy access to potentially pornographic websites, he said.

Those who are drawn to child pornography will risk their jobs, 
personal safety or even their freedom to view it, Shoemaker said.

"Basically this is a needs-driven activity," he said. "Its very 
similar to a substance addiction. They can't not do it and when the 
opportunity presents itself they will succumb to it."



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