Daughter Turns Father In After Finding Child Porn

Francis Romance was arrested Wednesday morning because of a phone call that Carrie Romance, his daughter and next-door neighbor, made two years ago.

“I feel more comfortable where I live at now, now that he is locked up,” Carrie said.

She said her father was living with her in Lincolnton when she noticed strange video files on her computer, which police later said contained child pornography.

“I was sick to my stomach,” Carrie said.

She called police in what she said was an easy decision.

“I didn't want somebody like that around my son,” she said.

Carrie said she then cut off all ties with Francis, though he now lives next door to her on Underwood Lane, just outside of Lincolnton.

Police said it took SBI agents, who are backlogged with work, 18 months to pull the computer files for examination, which is why the arrest didn’t happen until Wednesday. Officers said there are only two experts in the state who can do that type of work.

Sgt. Matt Painter said what agents found was disturbing.

“It was really hard to watch,” he said.

Painter said young girls, ages 6 to 12, were in the videos, along with adult men were in some of them.

“If people actually find pleasure in viewing these types of videos, there are deeper issues than just downloading stuff from the Internet,” he said.