ROCK SPRINGS — A Rock Springs man is being held at the Sweetwater County Detention Center on a $500,000 cash-only bond after being charged with 10 felony counts of possession of child pornography Friday.
Vincent Boschetto, 34, of Rock Springs was arrested Wednesday by the Rock Springs Police Department. He made his initial appearance before Circuit Court Judge John Prokos Friday. Boschetto faces a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine for each charge. In total, Boschetto faces a maximum of 100 years in prison and $100,000 in fines if convicted of all charges. His preliminary hearing was set for Aug. 27 at 4 p.m.
During the hearing, prosecutor Stephen Anselmi-Stith asked for a $400,000 cash-only bond, saying while Boschetto has extensive ties with the community, he represents a flight risk and is an extreme danger to the community. Prokos opted to settle on a $500,000 cash-only bond, saying the court documents alluded to images Boschetto allegedly possessed that “gives the court pause.”
Allegations
According to court documents, the RSPD responded to a call regarding potential child pornography Aug. 18 at 6:38 p.m. The reporting party claimed they found images on Boschetto’s phone and took the phone for an officer to look at. The phone allegedly contained both images and videos involving girls aged 12-14 posing or engaged in sexual activity.
Court documents state the phone was initially discovered by the reporting party Aug. 14, which led to a confrontation with Boschetto where he claimed he was turning over evidence of other people’s possession of child pornography and cited recent arrests made as evidence of what he was doing.
On Aug. 19, a search warrant was granted for data on Boschetto’s phone. Extraction and analysis of the data allegedly showed Boschetto had social media, email, and other app accounts on the device, while photos on the phone’s camera roll included images of Boschetto. The Apple ID registered to the phone also corresponded to an email address allegedly used by Boschetto. Officers allegedly discovered hundreds of image and video files featuring child pornography hidden on the phone.
On Aug. 20, the RSPD, along with Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Internet Crimes Against Children agents, arrested Boschetto outside the Health West Office on Commercial Way. Upon being arrested, he stated he wanted an attorney. He was placed in Interview Room 1 at the police department’s headquarters and was later told by interviewing agents that they wouldn’t ask questions but wanted to tell Boschetto the details of the investigation. Boschetto later decided he would speak with investigators. He signed a Miranda Rights Advisement form and verbally stated he wanted to waive his right to an attorney and to be silent to speak with law enforcement.
According to court documents, Boschetto allegedly told investigators the phone containing the child pornography was his and he only used the phone to look at child pornography. He allegedly told investigators he would search for pornographic images using a VPN (virtual private network) to hide his phone’s IP (internet protocol) address. Boschetto also allegedly said he searched for child pornography through Telegram groups, saying he never shared it with anyone and only received it. He told investigators the reason he sought it was to try and locate people who were molesting children as a vigilante but never found or confronted any of the people in the videos. He also admitted to recently going to Las Vegas and checking into a sex addiction rehab center while in the city.
