DERRY, Pa. — A former Derry High School student is facing serious charges after returning a stolen school laptop with pornographic images on it, police said.
School officials said that when a missing laptop suddenly resurfaced, they checked the computer to make sure it didn't contain any viruses or malicious software.
"It was discovered that inside the computer there was a mini SD card," said Derry Police Department Chief Randy Glick.
Police said on that card, school district leaders found pornographic images of children. A criminal investigation was launched in May.
Authorities said Ryan Nupp, who was a student at the time, took the laptop off school property without authorization. Video surveillance showed Nupp returning the laptop, police said.
According to investigators, an examination of the files showed children as young as 6 in as many as 15 different images.
Glick said Nupp told officers he forgot that the mini SD card was in the computer when he returned it.
Police said thatthrough the course of their investigation, they found a 16-year-old had sent nude images of herself to Nupp.
Nupp has been charged with additional counts of possession of child pornography related to those photos.
Investigators described the case as “cut and dry.”
“It's not one of those things where you could say, ‘I didn't know.’ It's blatantly obvious that the young people in these pictures should not be involved in these types of pictures,” said Glick.