Radaslaw Szczepanski
/ Courtesy: Fountain Police Department
EL PASO COUNTY, COLO. -- A Fort Carson soldier is in trouble with the law after police found sexually explicit images of children on his computer.
Tuesday afternoon Fountain Police officers arrested 47-year-old Radaslaw Szczepanski for sexual exploitation of a child.
At the end of April, police said a computer technician who was working on Szczepanski's computer notified them when he came across the images.
Over the past five months police have been investigating, and then on Tuesday, detectives searched Szczepanski's home on Summer Meadows Drive in El Paso County.
Inside authorities found a grenade, along with several other items they confiscated for evidence.
Police said they do not believe any of the children and teens on Szczepanski's computer are local, and added most of the pictures were downloaded from commercial websites.
Even still, those who live near Szczepanski said they are worried.
"Inappropriate material, that is a nice way of putting it, I mean anything like that is just not good, what else is he capable of doing," a neighbor of Szczepanski's said.
The woman, who did not want to be identified, lives near Szczepanski.
She said she is frightened because her children and grandchildren also live in the area and are always outside riding their bikes and playing in the yard.
"If he is allowed to come back here, what do we do, do we keep our kids inside?" she said. "I do not know, it scares me, it really does."
According to Szczepanski's arrest affidavit, the photos on his computer are of girls between the ages of 12 and 17.
It goes on to say his Internet history showed he visited teen websites a minimum of 78 times in March.
"That is a felony offense, and there are multiple victims of this type of crime, so it is of concern to us," Commander Mike Haley with the Fountain Police Department said.
Even though police believe there are not any local victims, Haley is using the opportunity to remind parents to be informed, and aware.
"Not just looking at what they (kids) do on the computer, but where they are in the afternoon and after school, and have they met new people that could lead up to this kind of activity," Haley said.
The kind of activity Szczepanski's neighbors said is disturbing, and has forced them to rethink how much freedom they give their kids and grandkids.
"I love the kids running up and down the neighborhood, it reminds me of when I was a kid and you did not have to worry, but now I am wondering 'do I have to worry,'" the unidentified neighbor said.
Szczepanski's bond has been set at $1,000.
As for the grenade found in his home, police said it was inert.
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