A California father who was arrested last week after authorities said they had discovered more than 900 images of child sex abuse was also accused in 2018 of having “several hundred” similar images — but he has evaded prosecution because of an alleged computer glitch, a law enforcement official said.
Ryan Rovito, 34, of Redding, is accused of felony possession of child pornography and surreptitious recording after his wife turned over to police a camera she found hidden in the couple’s guest bathroom and a hard drive.
In 2018, his previous wife also went to authorities and reported that he had photos of “prepubescent juveniles” on his computer, said Sgt. Rob Garnero, a Redding police spokesperson.
That case got lost in a new software system and didn’t make it to the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office until November, a spokesperson for the DA’s office said.
The software “had some errors when it launched,” Garnero said, adding that the police department’s records division made a note in its internal software in December that the previous case had been lost.
When police filed the current case against Rovito, they found the earlier one — “and that’s when we discovered that case had never been completely discovered when routed,” Garnero said.
Ryan Rovito did not respond to multiple attempts to ask him for comment. His lawyer, Timothy Prentiss, said Rovito maintains his innocence.
“From his perspective, he’s ready to challenge these allegations, and we’d prefer to do that in the legal system,” Prentiss said.
Prentiss said he was not familiar with the 2018 allegations.
Statute of limitations
Police said there was a three-year statute of limitations on the 2018 case, which had expired by the time the glitch was discovered. But the Shasta County DA’s office said Thursday that the case falls under a 10-year limit.
“We’re going to have to do some further investigation to review the case before we make any filing decisions,” a spokesperson for the DA…
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