Former Vancouver Neighbors on Watch volunteer gets 26 months for child pornography

A Vancouver man, who was previously a Vancouver police Neighbors on Watch volunteer, was sentenced last week to 26 months in prison for possessing child pornography.

Bradley Lebow, 35, pleaded guilty Aug. 22 in Clark County Superior Court to two counts of first-degree possession of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He was originally facing five counts. He was sentenced Oct. 17, court records show.

Detectives with the Vancouver Police Department’s Digital Evidence Cybercrime Unit started investigating Lebow after they received a tip Nov. 29, 2018, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a local IP address that was accessing child pornography, a police news release said.

Police combed through the data for a Google account and uncovered more than 1,000 videos and images of child pornography. The videos and images featured children as young as 4 to 6 years old, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Police searched Lebow’s home and subsequently arrested him.

“(Lebow) confirmed the Google account was his, and he was the sole person responsible for downloading the child pornography and using it for sexual gratification,” the affidavit says.

Lebow had been a volunteer with the police department’s NOW program since 2014. His status as a volunteer was suspended pending the investigation, police said after his arrest.

NOW volunteers receive training from police in using radios, observation skills and the legal aspects for what constitutes a crime. The program’s goals include assisting police through observation, to educate people on crime prevention and to foster a relationship between citizens and police, according to Vancouver police’s website.