SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police describe the case involving David Wayne Loven, 61, as one of the worst cases of child pornography they've ever seen. Loven was convicted in June 2013 of super-aggravated sexual assault of a child, sexual performance of a child, indecency with a child, and possession of child pornography.
Detective Wesley Ross, who served as lead investigator in the Loven case, said five young girls were abused at the hands of Loven, and the abuse was recorded on video and in photos, over the span of more than a decade.
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"He had collected the girls' panties, and we had five different bags, with names and ages, and then one of them had a lock of hair in it, and none of them was over 10 years old," Ross said.
The case against Loven started after one of the victims, a 5-year-old girl, told her mother. From there, detectives went to Loven's home, and found mounds of evidence - enough to fill two truckloads, according to Ross.
"Things that just weren't appropriate for what you would have in a house. The sexual material was just way overwhelming," Ross said. According to police, investigators found over 700 VHS tapes, several computers with over 80,000 digital images, hundreds of printed photographs, and dozens of DVDs. Generally, Ross said, a child pornography case only takes one to two officers to comb through all the evidence. In this case, it took a team of 20 to 30 officers several months to sift through it all; as the volume of evidence found in Loven's home was unprecedented.
Ross describes the abuse as so disturbing, it took an emotional toll on many of the officers who worked the case.
"Those were the unlucky guys and gals who had to sit in the conference room, and they had to watch it, and make notes," Ross said.
Loven was convicted of 88 counts of abuse and possession of child pornography, which, collectively, carry a sentence of over 1,000 years in prison. His convictions of super-aggravated sexual assault of a child make him ineligible for parole.
"I'm real happy that he is behind bars," Ross said. "This is several children that we were able to help, a lot of children that will never have to deal with this type of person in their life."