Roger P. Orich v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided March 23, 2020·No. 19A-CR-2394·Published

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED regarded as precedent or cited before any Mar 23 2020, 10:51 am court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK

the defense of res judicata, collateral Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals

estoppel, or the law of the case. and Tax Court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE R. Brian Woodward Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Office of the Lake County Public Attorney General of Indiana Defender – Appellate Division Justin F. Roebel

Crown Point, Indiana Supervising Deputy Attorney General

Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE

COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Roger P. Orich, March 23, 2020 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No.

19A-CR-2394

v. Appeal from the Lake Superior Court

State of Indiana, The Honorable Samuel L. Cappas, Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge Trial Court Cause No.

45G04-1809-F5-195

Mathias, Judge.

[1] Roger P. Orich (“Orich”) pleaded guilty in Lake Superior Court to one count of Level 5 felony possession of child pornography and was sentenced to five years, Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 1 of 18 with four years to be served in the Department of Correction (“DOC”) and one year in community corrections. Orich appeals and presents three issues, which we restate as:

I. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying Orich’s request to remove copies of the charging information and the probable cause affidavit from the presentence investigation report;

II. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by considering aggravating factors that were not supported by the record; and

III. Whether the trial court overlooked mitigating factors that were clearly supported by the record.

[2] We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [3] The facts, as admitted by Orich at his guilty plea hearing, are that he collected

images depicting children under the age of twelve displaying their genitals, uncovered breasts, and being fondled. Orich also admitted that these images had no literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. On September 21, 2018, the State charged Orich with Level 5 felony possession of child pornography and Level 6 felony possession of child pornography. On September 10, 2019, Orich pleaded guilty to both charges.1

1 The trial court “merged” the Level 6 felony conviction with the Level 5 felony charge for purposes of sentencing and entered judgment of conviction only on the Level 5 felony.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 2 of 18

[4] At the subsequent sentencing hearing, Indiana State Police detective Vicki Maxwell (“Detective Maxwell”) testified regarding the investigation of Orich. She explained that the case began when she received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone had uploaded pictures to the Internet that depicted child pornography. Further investigation determined that the person who had uploaded the pictures was Orich. Detective Maxwell learned that, in 1991, Orich had been charged with battery and child molesting against his adopted daughter but convicted only of battery. In 1993, he was charged with, but found not guilty, of molesting the same victim. Orich had also been arrested in 1981 for exposing himself to school children.

[5] Detective Maxwell also explained that, when the police executed the warrant to search Orich’s residence, they found various items, including “naked posters of women on the walls, anime. Anime children were on his sheets.” Tr. p. 23. They also found a chair with a painting of a nude woman tied to the chair with a gag-ball in her mouth, sex toys, women’s lingerie, and dolls. She explained that all of the items appeared to be sexual in nature. In the nightstand next to Orich’s bed the police found pictures of child pornography. She also testified that, during the search of Orich’s home, the police found DVDs containing numerous image files of child pornography and a hard drive containing over 340,000 images of pornography, including images of adult pornography; bondage; sexual torture; child pornography; virtual pornography of adults, children, and infants; children in “seductive” poses; infants with their genitals

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 3 of 18 exposed; children bathing; children using the toilet; and sexual acts with child dolls.

[6] A search of an external hard drive found in Orich’s home revealed 4,790 pornographic images. Some of the images depicted the worst forms of child sexual assault, including young children being raped vaginally and anally by adults. The police submitted the images found in Orich’s collection to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who identified 366 images as known images of child pornography involving scores of known child victims. A search of Orich’s computer also revealed that he had used an internet search engine to look for several disturbing terms, including “daughter yells no daddy, stop daddy, violent rape, 3D dad f**king baby son, 3D incest sex, 3D kidnap little girl torture, 3D little girls dead abused.” Tr. p. 26. The search engine had also been used to look for images of bestiality.

[7] At the sentencing hearing, Orich presented the testimony of psychologist Robert Coyle (“Dr. Coyle”), who began treating Orich in January 2019 after he had been charged in the present case. Dr. Coyle testified that Orich had a hoarding disorder and that his collection of child pornography was a “small part” of the items he collected, including such innocuous items as comic books. Tr. p. 52. Dr. Coyle testified that Orich had an average IQ of 94 but had a lower level of cognitive functioning, which he attributed to a childhood injury and chronic alcohol abuse. On cross-examination, however, Dr. Coyle admitted that most of the information he had regarding Orich had been self-reported by

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 4 of 18

Orich. He also admitted that Orich had underreported the magnitude and nature of his pornography collection.

[8] At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial court found as mitigating that Orich had pleaded guilty, that he had expressed remorse, and that incarceration would cause an undue hardship on Orich due to his mental health issues. The trial court also noted that Orich had led an apparently law-abiding life for twenty years. The trial court found as aggravating Orich’s prior criminal history and his pattern of inappropriate behavior involving children. The trial court also found as aggravating the quantity of images Orich possessed and the horrific nature of the abuse depicted. The trial court noted that Orich underreported his conduct to Dr. Coyle. The trial court sentenced Orich to five years, with four years to be served in the DOC and one year to be served in community corrections. Orich now appeals.

I. Presentence Investigation Report [9] Orich first claims that the trial court erred by denying his request to remove copies of the charging information and the probable cause affidavit from the presentence investigation report (“PSIR”). In the present case, the charging information provided:

COUNT I

[POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY (a Level 5 Felony)]

Vicki Maxwell, upon oath, says that on or about September 19, 2018, in the County of Lake, State of Indiana, Roger Paul Orich did knowingly or intentionally possess or access with intent to Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 5 of 18

view pictures or photographs that depicts or describes sexual conduct by a child who appears to be less than eighteen (18)

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Roger P. Orich v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2020).

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