An Iowa man was arrested after he spilled gravy on his laptop and took it to his local Best Buy, where police say a tech worker found images of child pornography on the computer.
Last year on Aug. 11, Robert L. Watson of Des Moines brought his gravy-covered device to his local Best Buy and wanted the files on it transferred to a new computer, according to a criminal complaint filed late last month.
"During this file transfer process employees at Best Buy 'Geek Squad' observed multiple images they believed contained child pornography," according to the complaint provided to BuzzFeed News. "Once this transfer was complete both computers were collected by Des Moines police as evidence."
During a subsequent interview with police, Watson allegedly told authorities he was the only person who used the password-protected computer.
He also allegedly described several images that detectives later found on his computer.
"Robert advised that he downloaded the images because he wanted to tell other people about them," police wrote.
He has been charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography.
Watson was arrested Tuesday and is being held in Polk County Jail on a bond of $50,000, according to online records.
A spokesperson for Iowa's Office of the State Public Defender told BuzzFeed News it had been appointed to defend Watson but that no attorney had yet been assigned to his case.
Paula Baldwin, public relations director for Best Buy, told BuzzFeed News that Geek Squad employees discover apparent child pornography on customers' computers nearly 100 times each year.
"They don’t search for the material, but inadvertently discover it in the normal course of repairing a computer," she said. "When we do find what appears to be child pornography, we have a legal obligation to notify law enforcement and we inform our customers of this prior to doing any work. Law enforcement determines a course of action based on the evidence, as they did in this situation."
UPDATE
This story was updated with comment from Paula Baldwin of Best Buy.