SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A former San Diego State University football player was arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography.
Nowlin Ewaliko, 20, was arrested for felony possession of child pornography after he turned himself in to police Thursday afternoon.
According to court documents obtained by ABC 10News, San Diego Police Department officers submitted a search warrant for the seizure and search of any electronic device found on the person identified as Nowlin Ewaliko.
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In a declaration in support of an arrest warrant, police say they received the contents of an iCloud account.
In the declaration, an officer with the San Diego Police Department wrote, “On August 15th, 2022, I received the results and sent them to the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory (RCFL) for processing. On October 11, 2022, I received the information back from the RCFL. I previewed the information and found 38 videos that depicted CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) that were uploaded to the account. Of the 38 videos, 7 of them had previously been identified by NCMEC as confirmed CSAM images. The children in the videos have been identified by law enforcement and confirmed to be under the age of 18 at the time the video was produced. Each video has been given a series name by NCMEC.”
The document went on to describe in detail two of the videos where minors performed sex acts.
The declaration stated, “all 38 videos were uploaded to the iCloud account belonging to Ewaliko. These uploads occurred in the form of an iCloud backup. There were a total of 71 backups on the iCloud account. 8 of the 71 backups contained CSAM.”
The 20 year old was one of several former San Diego State University football players who had been investigated for an alleged gang rape at an off-campus party in the College neighborhood in October of 2021.
According to the San Diego County District Attorney's office, a series of search warrants in that investigation turned up four terabytes of data which included forensic evidence from cell phones.
At the time, the DA's office said “During the course of the investigation into the alleged sexual assault, SDPD opened a separate investigation into alleged possession of unlawful pornography by then 19-year-old Nowlin Ewaliko. That investigation continues and is not connected in any way to the alleged sexual assault.”
The new court documents show police took what they found, submitted a new search warrant and discovered the videos.
A spokesperson for the District Attorney said Ewaliko is scheduled for arraignment next week.
