Deputies from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Computer Crimes Unit on Tuesday arrested and booked into the 4th Avenue jail, 48 year old Roger James Forney, a guard at the Arizona State Hospital for 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a class 2 felony.
On Sunday, deputies received a 911 call from a woman saying she found numerous bags filled with child pornography in a dumpster in the Desert Garden Apartment Complex in the 1300 block of W. Glendale.
When Sheriff’s deputies responded, they found trash bags filled with hundreds of hand traced and printed photographs of nude children ages 1 to 14 years. Along with those pictures was personal mail addressed to Roger Forney, a broken laptop, shredder, printer, and several smashed flash drives. Also located was a hand written log containing comments of sexual torture with a 5-year-old boy that were written out with date and military time. Detectives examined the laptop and were able to retrieve thousands of pornography pictures of boys depicted in bondage and sexual torture situations, along with Forney’s resume and military records.
“I commend the person who saw these images and turned them in to us. This citizen did the right thing, people involved in child pornography are ill and should be removed from society either through incarceration at a jail facility or state hospital,” said Sheriff Arpaio. On Tuesday, Sheriff’s detectives served a search warrant at Forney’s apartment, approximately one mile away from the dump site. Upon opening the door, detectives determined they could only search the apartment by wearing breathing equipment and protective gear as Forney’s apartment was described as “very disgusting, with cat feces and urine all over, cockroaches and trash littered about, the smell of ammonia was overwhelming.” In the apartment another laptop with more pictures on it was found as well as other items.
Roger James Forney, a retired Army National Guard Military Police Officer, former Arizona DPS officer, and who is currently employed as a security guard for the Arizona State Hospital. He was arrested and booked into the 4th Avenue Jail. While being transported, Forney admitted to Sheriff’s detectives that all the items were his and that he has had a fetish for young boys between the ages 3 to 12 for a long time, starting while he was in the military.
Forney also admitted that he had attempted to destroy all the evidence after a notice popped up on his computer which locked his computer stating “The FBI has logged your IP address, you will be charged within 48 hours.” He also thanked the detective for arresting him, and removing him from society, so that he can finally get help for his “evil”.
During the investigation, Sheriff’s detectives determined that Forney was involved with the Calvary Community Church in Phoenix as a volunteer mentor for youth; however, Forney stated to detectives that he has never touched a child in an inappropriate manner. The investigation is ongoing.