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Church graffiti case leads to child porn charges

Monday, August 24, 2015
By JARED JERNAGAN, Assistant Editor
Shea Tahtinen

The Greencastle Police Department search for a man who vandalized three local churches has resulted in some more serious charges than originally believed.

Since the Thursday, Aug. 13 discovery of anti-religion graffiti at three southside churches, GPD Officer Darrel Bunten and Detective Sgt. Michael Collins have been working on the case.

On Friday, a warrant was issued for 18-year-old Shea Tahtinen of Greencastle, not only on three counts of Class A misdemeanor, but two counts of possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, Detective Collins discovered the alleged pornography on Aug. 16 while executing a search warrant on Tahtinen's phone. In the course of the forensic search, he found a video of two small boys apparently engaging in a sexual act.

Based on the video, Collins turned the charge of possession of child pornography over to the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office.

Also located on the phone were videos of Tahtinen burning a Bible in a church parking lot, videos of animal cruelty, several Islamic torture videos and school shooting videos.

Greencastle officers were informed that Tahtinen has moved to Muncie. GPD contacted the Muncie Police Department, which was in the process of locating Tahtinen on Sunday evening.

As of Monday morning, Tahtinen had not yet been arrested.

Anyone who has information related to this case or knows the location of Tahtinen is asked to contact the Greencastle Police Department at 653-2925 or 653-3155 after business hours.

"The Greencastle Police would like to thank Officer Bunten and Detective Sgt. Collins for their hard work on this case," Assistant Chief Brian Hopkins said in a statement issued Sunday.

Hopkins also expressed the department's gratitude to DePauw Police Department, Putnam County Sheriff's Department, Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter for all their assistance in the case.

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  • The "indecipherable text" on one of the churches said BURZUM, you plebs.

    -- Posted by baticide on Sun, Aug 23, 2015, at 9:13 PM

  • Let's hope this misguided youth is found soon so she can get the help she needs. Child porn, animal cruelty, Bible burning, defacing churches. Satan is at work and has this kid firmly in his grip.

    -- Posted by Vernie1 on Mon, Aug 24, 2015, at 5:11 PM

  • Let's hope that misguded commenters learn to actually read the article--starting with the very first sentence--so that they know the "she" they are commenting about is actually a "he." This is why Neil Postman wrote his landmark book in 1985.

    -- Posted by thingsfallapart on Mon, Aug 24, 2015, at 5:47 PM

  • Right now Shea and his family need our prayers and not condemnation.

    -- Posted by 28yearsisenough on Mon, Aug 24, 2015, at 9:37 PM

  • Sorry about the she instead of typing he. Fat finger mistake. Hopelessly human. And certainly not misguided. Misguided people get involved with child porn, animal cruelty and terrorist videos and allegedly paint graffiti on churches property.

    -- Posted by Vernie1 on Tue, Aug 25, 2015, at 9:07 AM

  • no one knows anything about him or this. they just don't. y'all cannot even begin to understand.

    -- Posted by savannahcal on Sat, Aug 29, 2015, at 3:55 PM

  • one video does not sound like a porn addiction or even interest......

    -- Posted by CitizenCares on Mon, Aug 31, 2015, at 8:07 AM

  • "Also located on the phone were videos of Tahtinen burning a Bible in a church parking lot, videos of animal cruelty, several Islamic torture videos and school shooting videos."

    There are numerous research articles out there that will confirm future serial killers started out abusing animals. Further, any "kid" who holds on to torture videos and school shooting videos of ANY KIND, needs to be removed from society and given therapy.

    SavannahCal, unfortunately kids like this (I realize he's an adult now, but he's a kid to me) often start off as "cutters" in the school cliques, and some even end up not caring about anyone or anything living. We don't need to understand or know anything about him to know his actions are NOT NORMAL and he needs help before he hurts himself or others.

    I hope they find him ... and soon.

    Is he being accused of "porn addiction"? No, but just to be safe, CitizenCares, you might want to delete those videos from your phone. lol

    -- Posted by Emmes on Mon, Aug 31, 2015, at 12:02 PM

  • Emmes....You might need to know the story a bit better before you start imparting your knowledge. He turned himself in a week ago. He is not accused of nor has it ever been said that he was in any of the video's except the bible burning.

    Every person who has ever viewed a bad video or videos does not become a serial killer.

    In this country people are innocent until proven guilty. You don't have to like that but you don't get to convict him either. Why not? Because you don't know the whole story. And unless you sit on the jury then your opinion is uninformed.

    And another thing...what has ever been said about "cutters"? Why is that even part of your post?

    -- Posted by CitizenCares on Mon, Aug 31, 2015, at 8:36 PM
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