Bradenton man tried to stop investigators from searching his laptop for child porn, cops say

A 69-year-old Bradenton man has been arrested after investigators found dozens of pornographic images and videos depicting children on his computer, according to police.

Timothy Conaway, a retired Ohio native, was charged with one count of promoting the sexual performance of a child, 40 counts of possession of child pornography and one count obstruction of the execution of a search warrant. He is being held on bonds totaling $400,500 at the Manatee County jail.

Bradenton police first began investigating Conaway after being an alerted to an IP address, later traced to Conaway, that had been used to upload or download files known to contain pornographic images of children. Detectives gathered enough probable cause to obtain a search warrant signed by a judge to search Conaway’s home.

On Oct. 18, detectives searched the home Conaway shares with his wife in the 2400 block of 17th Street Court West inside the Bradenton Tropical Palms retirement mobile home park, according to a probable cause affidavit. On Conaway’s patio, investigators found his laptop and a preliminary forensic scan of the computer led them to 40 pornographic images videos depicting children.

The children in the pornography are believed to be between the ages of 2 to 14 years old, according to the lead detective in the case.

Conaway was shown one of the images that had uploaded from his IP address, and he acknowledged he recognized the photo and told the detective that he had found it using Bing, according to the report. He also confirmed that the laptop on which the pornography was found belonged to him and was password protected.

After refusing to speak any more to the detective, Conaway was told he could sit in the couple’s carport alongside his wife while investigators searched the home. But according to officers at the scene, Conaway attempted several times to get back inside the home and onto the patio where the laptop was.

“I want to see what’s going on,” Conaway told officers who attempted to pull him back, according to the report. After interrupting the search several times, Conaway was arrested and placed in the back of a patrol car until the search was complete.

Conaway, who has lived in Manatee County for four years, has no known criminal history.