Child porn charges dropped
Published: September 3, 2008
A Crozet man whose wife told police that she found child pornography on his computer is no longer facing charges.
The Albemarle County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office has agreed not to prosecute 17 counts of possession of child pornography against Walter David Gregory Jr. Gregory had been scheduled to face trial on those charges Wednesday in Albemarle Circuit Court.
Gregory’s wife, Lisa Gregory, told police that she found the pictures on her husband’s computer with the help of Eric Gray, a friend’s fiancé. Jon Zug, assistant commonwealth’s attorney, said Gray was able to override the password protection on the computer.
While searching last month for Gray to serve him a subpoena for Gregory’s trial, Zug said, authorities discovered he was a sex offender. The prosecution’s case also was hurt when authorities realized that a statement Gregory’s wife made during a preliminary hearing was inaccurate.
“She had indicated a timeframe when he left that would have been before the images proved to be determined to be downloaded,” Zug said.
Zug said he realized a jury likely would find Gregory not guilty and piece together another theory on how the pictures got onto the computer.
Gregory, 45, was arrested on the possession charges last year. Prior to his wife’s discovery, Zug said, Gregory had skipped town and failed to show up for a court date on another matter. He remained in jail for the failure to appear in court charge, of which he was later acquitted, as well as the pornography charges.
According to court records, Gregory also was found guilty of a forgery charge in January and sentenced to pay $975 in court costs.
Zug said Gregory remains in jail because of another charge pending in the county’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Neither Lisa Gregory nor defense attorney Richard Davis could be reached for comment.
Zug said the county was diligent in seeking out details in the case and kept the investigation going until the trial.
“This is first time that I’ve had a case of this nature fall apart like this,” Zug said. “When I say it’s rare, it’s really rare.”
Reader Reactions
Interesting things about this story:
Lisa Gregory called the police, told them he left and there is kidporn on the computer.
But the police found the kidporn was downloaded while Mr Gregory was gone!
I wonder what this lady and computer whiz and sex offender Eric Gray had together to want to cause problems for this guy.
Certainly Lisa Gregory was cognizant that the zealous crime fighting attorney Jon Zog would take these horrible allegations and ruin this fellow’s life.
Was Gray going to get some of Gregory’s cash, or some of Gregory’s wife, after Gregory was safely locked away for a long time?
Oh look. Mr Gregory has charges in JDR court too. I wonder what Lisa Gregory has to do with this, seeing how this is the entity that would hear many of the claims that might be fabricated to set this woman up for Divorce Jackpot.
I wonder if Lisa Gregory will be granted her divorce soon and how much of her “evil” husband’s assets and paychecks she will get. Good luck Lisa Gregory! If at first you don’t succeed, try try again!
I thought this was another person with a similar name.
God takes care of His own children! And Greg is one of God’s children.
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