Child Porn Find Sparks Urgent Victim Search

Police here are asking for the public's help finding several women who may know the whereabouts of a number of endangered children being used for child pornography.

The search began after police found numerous child pornography pictures as well as pictures of the women in the possession of a recently arrested man who is accused of being a fugitive out of Oregon.

Andrew F. Kowalczyk, 33, was arrested at a Puyallup-area motel room on Dec. 27 for investigation of forgery and identity theft. According to records, Kowalczyk last lived in the Portland area in 2003.

Investigators say evidence found in Kowalczyk's computer led them to believe he was abusing several children.

"They went through the computer and found several hundred pictures of child pornography, leading them to believe there are several children who are endangered, and we need to locate those children," said Puyallup police spokeswoman Lorri Ericson.

Ericson said there are at least four victims.

"We don't know exactly how many because we have not been able to go through all of the photos," she said. "There are hundreds and hundreds of photos."

Detectives are also trying to locate a motel room seen in one of the pictures, hoping it will lead to more clues. A picture of it is posted below.

"We don't know where the motel room is, but we believe it might be associated with some of the abuse," Ericson said. "So if we can identify the motel or the city, that might also help us find where the children might be."

Detectives believe the abuse took place in the Seattle area, Portland or Los Angeles. They don't know how many people may have been involved in the abuse.

"We believe that, based on the nature of the pictures, there might be more than one person involved, which means that even with one person in custody, the children are still in danger and we need to find them," Ericson said.

Detectives are now urgently searching for the women in the pictures. They say the women, whose names are not known, could be anywhere on the West Coast. The women are not suspects, but are believed to hold key clues in the case and police want to talk to them immediately.

"So that we can talk to them and see if they can help us identify someone who might know who these children are, or maybe by chance they know who the children are," Ericson said. "One minute is one minute too long for these children, so we're in a hurry to identify them and find out who they are."

Anyone with information is urged to call police at (253) 841-5421.