VANDALIA — Officers are working to determine how long an SD card with sexual images of children was on a Vandalia hotel room TV and who left it, said police.
A guest at Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham on Poe Avenue notified hotel staff that “pornographic images of children” were on the TV on Christmas Eve, according to an incident report.
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A front desk manager called the police to notify them of the images.
“We just want to let you know that one of our housekeepers found an SD card in the TV and it contains some child pornography,” they told a 911 dispatcher.
Police don’t have any suspects at this time, but the general manager said that the hotel is working with police to help them find whoever left the SD card in the room.
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“Anything like this is absolutely disgusting and we take it seriously,” the general manager said in a statement. “We’ll do anything in our power to help authorities get all of the information needed to get justice.”
James LaVarone is a Vandalia native who lives near the hotel.
He said he heard rumors of the report before News Center 7 confirmed it and that as a father, the incident worries him.
“It’s heartbreaking,” LaVarone said. “You just don’t mess with kids. It’s just taboo. It’s something you don’t do.”
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He thinks that whoever is responsible should be held to “full prosecution to the letter of the law.”
“I think examples need to be made of such things,” he said.
