Randall Lee Fraley
A Chattanooga man was arrested after he took his cell phone to AT&T and an employee spotted child pornography on it, police said.
Randall Lee Fraley, 73, of 760 Sawmill Trail, was arrested for sexual exploitation of a minor.
Police responded to the AT&T store at 5691 Highway 153 on Monday on reports of a person in the store in possession of a device containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Fraley had brought his phone into the store asking for assistance in copying media from his phone over to another storage device.
When a store employee opened the phone, he observed CSAM in the recent apps.
Investigators also observed the CSAM when on scene, and after determining Fraley resided in the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction, called the HCSO to respond.
The employee told police when he received the phone, he went to open apps and switched to the gallery. After the employee scrolled down, he observed a "very young" child on the bed wearing only a shirt with his lower body completely exposed. The employee estimated the child to be approximately three to four years old.
The store employee told police the service Fraley requested help with is not one they provide at the store, but he had helped Fraley with a similar problem a few weeks earlier. At that time, the employee said Fraley had come into the store and said he had deleted the shortcut to his phone's gallery from the home screen and needed assistance. At that time, the employee observed what he believed to be a male teenager, completely nude, in a provocative pose. The employee said he reported that to his manager, but because of the age range of the depicted male, they did not report the incident to law enforcement.
Investigators discovered Fraley is a registered sex offender in Hamilton County, and said his convictions involve hands on offenses with juvenile victims. Based on the statements of the investigators on scene and the store employee, Fraley was transported to be interviewed.
When questioned about the media depicting the child that was approximately three to four years old, Fraley said he observed the video on YouTube with his tablet, and recorded it with his phone. The tablet was not on scene.
Fraley's Google Pixel phone was seized, along with a tablet, his Google Pixel watch and two compact discs, and he was placed under arrest.