Man found guilty in child porn case

By Lance Griffin

Published: November 14, 2008

A path of Internet conversations, e-mails, downloads and court testimony led to the conviction of a former Dale County man Friday on six counts of transferring and possessing child pornography.

Jurors deliberated for 57 minutes Friday afternoon before returning the guilty verdicts against Edward Lee Edens, Jr., formerly of Daleville. He faces between 5 and 20 years on some counts and up to life in prison on others as well as fines of up to $250,000 on each count.

The jury concluded that Edens used the America Online screen name of “Cartoonstradeer” to enter chat rooms and send and receive sexually explicit pictures and videos depicting children. The investigation began when an FBI agent in Buffalo, N.Y., encountered the screen name “Cartoonstradeer” while undercover in an America Online chat room in August of 2005. The screen name was traced to Edens. His residence was searched and a computer was seized. A forensics analysis revealed hundreds of pornographic images and as many as 17 pornographic videos depicting children were stored on the hard drive.

“He didn’t have the moral compass that we expect of a citizen,” said Nathan Stump, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case.

Edens, who now lives in Texas, was immediately taken into custody. He will be sentenced March 12, 2009.

The defense presented its case Friday and argued that several people either lived at Edens’ residence or were there often during the time the offenses were said to have occurred. Several people testified Friday that they used the same computer on which the images were found, but all denied viewing or downloading child pornography. Defense attorney Michael Petersen also argued that Edens worked as a truck driver and could not have been home to view and download the images on the computer, nor could he properly supervise the computer from the road.

But during closing arguments, Stump displayed a chart to the jury using Edens’ employer’s trucking records that showed Edens was off the road when the offenses included in the indictment occurred.

The defense countered that there were too many holes in the prosecution’s case to escape reasonable doubt.

“If he is guilty of anything today, it’s being too trusting,” defense attorney Danielle Mason said. “There were other people living in Mr. Edens’ residence. He even saved his password on his computer to make it easier for people to get on the Internet.”