Man accused in child porn case could face additional charges

By Ryan Woodard, Journal staff | Tuesday, July 01, 2008

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A Pennington County prosecutor said Monday that the Rapid City man accused of illegally possessing numerous images of child pornography will be indicted next week on statutory rape charges in Hughes County.

Ryan Murphey, 32, is charged in Pennington County with 10 counts of possession of child pornography. He pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier in June. 

7th Circuit Judge John Delaney on Monday rejected a request from Murphey's attorney, Tom Diggins of Rapid City, to reduce the $500,000 jail release bond.

County Deputy State's Attorney Scott Roetzel objected to the request. He said Murphey is a danger to himself and others.

Roetzel said more charges outside the county are being considered. He said Hughes County prosecutors have reported they intend to seek indictments of statutory rape against Murphey.

A grand jury, meeting in private, decides if evidence presented by prosecutors warrants bringing formal charges.

Roetzel said the South Dakota Attorney General's Office also has plans to indict Murphey by the end of the month for manufacturing child pornography. 

The Pennington County charges allege that Murphey possessed 8,000 images of pornography on his computer. According to county Deputy State's Attorney Ken Varns at Murphey's last hearing, some of the images depicted infants and others depicted bestiality. He also said that many of the images were stored on Murphey's computer and not just downloaded from the Internet.

Possession of child pornography is a Class 4 felony that carries a maximum of 10 years in state prison and a $10,000 fine.

Murphey remains in Pennington County Jail in lieu of the $500,000 bond.

Contact Ryan Woodard at 394-8412 or ryan.woodard@rapidcityjournal.com