Defendant in child porn case requests psychiatric evaluation

ELYRIA — An Elyria man facing multiple child pornography charges in Lorain County Common Pleas Court has requested a psychiatric evaluation in his case. David Lee, 31, with a last known address on Warwick Lane, was indicted by a Lorain County grand jury July 1 on four felony charges, two each, of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person and pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor or impaired person. He is free on bond and was ordered released to a residential treatment center in Wellington, according to court records. Lee's next court date is Nov. 2 in Judge John Miraldi's court. Lee's attorney, John Corrigan, requested a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation for his client in a motion filed with the court Monday. In a search warrant affidavit seeking authorization to search Lee's smartphone that was granted by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery in February and recently unsealed, Elyria police said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received tips on its cyber tip line about a man named "Zack Slederman" starting in April 2019. Additional reports were received in July and September 2019, Detective James Homoki wrote in the affidavit. In October 2019, the Internet Crimes Against Children task force opened an investigation and subpoenaed AT&T records for the subscriber information on the phone number associated with "Slederman." The number was traced to Lee, living on Warwick Court in Elyria at the time. Further interviews showed that Lee had moved into an assisted-living facility in Wellington after suffering a seizure, and that other people were aware he had been investigated for alleged child pornography in the past, according to the affidavit. During an interview, Lee told detectives he had numerous physical and mental health issues and denied "viewing, receiving and sending out child pornography," according to the affidavit. When confronted with the information about the Slederman Facebook account, he admitted using his real date of birth and phone number to create it. According to the affidavit, Lee also told detectives he started looking at pornography as a teen, that his "hormones would get the best of him and that was why he continued to watch child pornography," and that he belonged to a Facebook group where child pornography was shared, according to the affidavit. Lee also admitted there were four videos on his phone depicting child pornography before signing a document giving them permission to view the phone, according to the affidavit. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.