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Former Portland Resident Sentenced to 270 Years in Federal Prison for Sexually Exploiting Children while Babysitting

PORTLAND, Ore.—After years of contentious litigation and attempts to obstruct justice, Andrew Franklin Kowalczyk, 44, formerly of Portland, was sentenced today to 270 years in federal prison followed by a life term of supervised release for the repeated sexual abuse, exploitation and torture of three young children.

On December 6, 2018, after a four-day trial and deliberating for just 20 minutes, a federal jury in Portland convicted Kowalczyk on nine counts of producing child pornography.

“Andrew Kowalczyk’s abuse and torture of his victims was unthinkable and will forever impact their lives,” said Billy J. Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. “Kowalczyk tried every conceivable tactic to delay prosecution and rob his young victims of the justice they deserve. Today his attempts to delay punishment for his horrific crimes have ended.”

“First and foremost, I commend the victims and their families for the strength they exuded while cooperating with a very difficult investigation,” said Brad Bench, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Seattle. “Individuals like Kowalczyk, who prey on those they are charged to care for, are extremely dangerous to our children and the community. HSI, along with our law enforcement partners, are committed to bringing these appalling crimes to an end.”

“One victim in this case asked Kowalczyk “why” he committed these horrible acts of violence. We can finally say to this now-young woman that Kowalczyk will never be able to hurt a child again. The bravery, resolve and strength this young woman demonstrated throughout this investigation is a big reason why,” said Renn Cannon, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon.

According to court documents and information shared during trial, law enforcement first learned of Kowalczyk’s abuse in early 2008. On December 27, 2007, a Des Moines, Washington police officer stopped Kowalczyk for several traffic violations. Kowalczyk did not own the vehicle he was driving, did not have a driver’s license and gave the officer a false name. After refusing the officer’s request to step out of the vehicle, Kowalczyk fled, leading police on a high-speed chase that was later terminated for public safety reasons.

Kowalczyk was later located at the Northwest Motor Inn in Puyallup, Washington. A records check run on the alias used by Kowalczyk to book his hotel room returned an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear in an unlawful use of a weapon case in Washington County, Oregon. Kowalczyk was arrested early the next morning when attempting to leave the hotel in a cab. Officers seized Kowalczyk’s personal belongings including several pieces of luggage and a backpack.

In January 2008, Puyallup police detectives sought and obtained a state warrant to search computer equipment, a digital camera and digital storage devices found in Kowalczyk’s luggage. The search returned a tremendous amount of child pornography including a number of images and videos that appeared to be homemade. Numerous videos and images depicted an unidentified male sexually abusing two very young children. Metadata embedded in many of the digital images revealed that they were created using the same camera found in Kowalczyk’s luggage.

Puyallup Police officers later published certain non-pornographic images of the victims and an adult woman found on Kowalczyk’s devices in an attempt to identify the victims. An adult woman, later identified as the victims’ mother, saw the images and contacted Puyallup Police. She confirmed she knew Kowalczyk and that he had regular access to her daughters in Portland. After reviewing some of the images seized, the victims’ mother was able to identify locations where the images were taken.  READ MORE…

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