Charges against Oberloh dismissed

EPHRATA - Prosecutors dropped the charges against Kurt A. Oberloh Jr. in Grant County Superior Court.

Oberloh, 31, was charged with possessing child pornography.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ed Owens filed the dismissal without prejudice Tuesday, according to court records. The dismissal states it was based on court records and lack of probable cause.

Owens was not available to answer additional questions. 

Prosecutor Angus Lee previously said he has not involved himself in the case.

The dismissal allows prosecutors to file charges again later. 

Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz allowed defense attorney Susan Oglebay to file a motion within 10 days to change the type of dismissal, so charges can't be filed again.

Oglebay plans to file the motion, she said; adding the prosecutors didn't give a reason for the dismissal.

The change follows a report by defense expert Randall Karstetter stating the child pornography files on Oberloh's laptop weren't opened after they were downloaded. In an email filed in court records, Karstetter reported the only file opened after it was downloaded was the one Oberloh's ex-wife opened when she discovered the alleged pornography and it wasn't child pornography.

Karstetter's report stated all of the files were located on a secondary drive in a folder with other downloaded files. All of the files are associated with the peer-to-peer file-sharing program, LimeWire, according to court files. 

The program is known for finding child pornography files using innocent search terms. Karstetter used the search term "family" to demonstrate his point, stating several of the entries were child pornography. He stated Oberloh likely didn't know the files were on his computer.

"To me this is looking more like an accidental acquisition of child pornography using LimeWire than someone trying to frame him," Karstetter wrote.

Oberloh's ex-wife, Jalene Oberloh, claimed to discover at least one video on the laptop after taking it and several other electronics from the house in October 2009. She told police they were going through an "ugly divorce," according to a Moses Lake police report.

When she initially tried logging onto the computer, she reportedly discovered it was password protected and left it alone. 

After her attorney allegedly advised her to look at the files on the computer, she brought it to a friend, who reportedly discovered files "which appeared to be child pornography" when he started copying the hard drive, according to the police report. 

She took the laptop to a store and had the password removed. 

When she searched the files, she reportedly found at least one movie clip, according to the police report.