US man caught sniffing socks at children’s playground

• A US man, Rolland Edward Brown, was charged after stealing and sniffing socks at a children’s playground.
• Police found photos of children and child sexual abuse material during a raid on Brown’s home.
• Brown was charged with multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and witness tampering.

A US man faces serious charges after being caught stealing and sniffing socks at a children’s indoor playground.

An investigation into 63-year-old Utah man, Rolland Edward Brown, began last year when an employee at the Rush Funplex in West Jordan, Utah, spotted him stealing and sniffing children’s socks.

The attraction features rock climbing, go-karts, laser tag, and a foam pit.

KSL.com cites charging documents that stated Brown was “sniffing little girls' socks, taking the little girls' socks into the bathroom with him and stealing the little girls' socks”.

Police then secured a warrant to raid his house and examine his electronic devices.

The documents state investigators found “multiple photos of various children, seemingly strangers, ranging from 3 years old to teenagers trying on shoes at different shoe stores.”

Rolland Edward Brown, 63, charged with possessing child sexual abuse material after he was caught sniffing socks at a children's playground.

They also found child sexual abuse material and allege that Brown instructed his wife to lie about receiving the search warrant so he could use that to fight the charges.

“Because (his) devices were encrypted, accessing the data on the devices was a time-consuming process,” charging documents state.

Brown was eventually charged last week with multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a minor as well as witness tampering.