SLIDELL, LA—
St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Deputies say 66-year-old Patrick Walsh, while attending a Mardi Gras parade in Slidell, was taking pictures of children watching the parade.A Sheriff's Deputy's wife noticed Walsh's focus during the parade was not on the floats, but on a little girl across the street. She notified her husband, who was off-duty, and he notified an on-duty Alcohol & Tobacco Control (ATC) Enforcement agent. The ATC agent approached Walsh, who appeared to be deleting photos from his digital camera. The agent took the camera and saw a picture of a little girl on the camera's display. The agent then notified the Slidell Police Department.
Police say the photo was an 'upskirt' picture of a young girl sitting on a curb. Officers also found magazines in Walsh's truck featuring "pictures of very young juveniles," according to a news release. A thorough search of Walsh's truck turned up 8 photographs of suspected child pornography along with other pictures of "very young children in bathing suits and underwear."
In an interview with police, Walsh admitted to having looked at child pornography on his home computer. At that point, the Louisiana Attorney General's office was notified, and Walsh's home was searched. Investigators found "a large amount of possible pornographic material" hidden in a secret compartment in the house.
Walsh has been booked on 26 counts of video voyeurism and eight counts of child pornography. He is being held in the St. Tammany Parish jail under a $1,000,000 bond.
