May 11, 2021
By News Director Jared Atha
An Elk City man was arrested and charged recently after allegedly being found to be in possession of child pornography.
According to the probable cause affidavit for arrest, 26-year-old Bardy Dakota Allen Daniel was arrested on April 28 after Elk City Police were tipped off by the Internet Crimes Against Children of a case involving child pornography that was possibly being uploaded and downloaded through multiple internet social media platforms from electronic devices owned, possessed, or controlled by Daniel.
The affidavit stated that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted the ICAC after receiving a total of six Cyber Tips about Daniel between December 29, 2019 and March 18, 2021.
Through the course of the investigation it was discovered that Daniel had multiple social media accounts on different platforms – including 11 on Facebook, all with different alias’.
After obtaining a search warrant to search the suspect’s apartment, Daniel was taken into the Elk City Police Department for questioning. While there he would initially deny possessing illegal video or images, but after giving authorities permission to search his phone, he would later confess that there were images on the device.
Daniel was later arrested booked into the ECPD jail.
Two days later, police would obtain another search warrant in order to search the contents of the phone. On the phone, police would reportedly find over 100 separate explicit videos of child pornography with approximately 2,000 additional videos yet to be reviewed. It was also reported in the court document that the phone contained 36,000 photos that police would have to review – some of which were indeed illegal photos.
Daniel was formally charged in Beckham County District Court on May 3 with one felony count of aggravated possession of child pornography. His bond was set at $250,000.
