Victim Of Laptop Theft Arrested On Child Pornography Charges

MORENO VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — Police say the victim of a laptop theft turned out to be a child pornography suspect.

Lawrence Tibbals Beal, 63, of Moreno Valley, was arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop after investigators served search warrants at two locations, including Beal's residence. Both warrants yielded evidence linking Beal to child pornography, police said.

A burglary investigation on Sunday led detectives to Beal. During that investigation, one of the three suspects who had been caught admitted to taking the laptop. When the suspects found the child porn on the computer, they tried to extort money from Beal, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Police said the burglary suspects, who were not named, were a man and two juveniles, the newspaper reported. The man was arrested on suspicion of burglary, but police did not say what happened to the two minors.

Beal is being held on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court Friday.