Warrant: Schloss hard drive had 196 videos, mostly homemade porn

IOWA CITY — When Nathan Schloss turned over a hard drive to police, he hoped to implicate his roommate in an animal abuse investigation.

He succeeded — but unwittingly made himself the focus of a sexual assault investigation in the process.

According to a search warrant affidavit released Thursday, Schloss' hard drive contained 196 videos, most of which appeared to be homemade pornography. While the videos had been deleted, they were recovered through a forensic process by police trying to view the alleged cat abuse video.

'Obviously, this investigation was initiated after a separate investigation,' Iowa City Police Sgt. Scott Gaarde said Thursday. 'The search warrant led to the current status of the case.'

Those videos, which were deleted from the drive but recovered through a forensic computer, led authorities to charge the Schloss with 18 counts of third-degree sexual abuse and 22 counts of invasion of privacy. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, and his trial is scheduled to begin April 7.

According to the search warrant affidavit filed in early November 2014 by Iowa City police computer forensic investigator Todd Cheney and unsealed Thursday, Cheney was contacted by officer David Schwindt on Nov. 4, 2014 about a DVD provided to police by Schloss, 23, a former University of Iowa student. The DVD allegedly contained video Schloss captured on his computer of his roommate, Leo A. Nopoulos, abusing Schloss' cat.

The warrant states that Schwindt tried to view the video, but was unable to because it 'was a bad burn and not playable.' Schloss — who at this point was only a victim in the animal abuse case — was asked to bring in another copy of the video, according to court documents.

Police said Schloss dropped off a 500GB hard disk drive and told officers he had deleted every file on the drive except the video depicting the cat abuse.

The warrant states that when Schwindt connected the hard drive to a computer, he was prompted with a message to format the drive and was unable to view any files it contained. Schwindt turned the hard drive over to Cheney, who was also unable to view any of the files.

Eventually, Cheney connected the hard drive to a forensic computer and ran a forensic program to extract all of the videos, even those that had been deleted, according to the warrant. Police said the extraction process recovered 196 videos, which Cheney browsed through in 'thumbnail view' to locate the video of the cat abuse.

'I immediately noticed that much, if not most of the videos, contained what appeared to be homemade pornography,' Cheney wrote in the affidavit.

Cheney describes one such thumbnail that depicted a woman 'lying naked on a bed and either appeared to be asleep or passed out,' the warrant states. The video was played and depicted a 'college age, brunette female' and a man touching the woman before having intercourse with her.

'During all of this, the female does not move or respond in any way to the males (sic) actions,' the affidavit states. 'The female's head and arms remain motionless and her eyes are closed.'

The warrant states Schloss covered the woman's face with a blanket and she did not respond. The woman is incapacitated 'by either her own or someone else's means and she is not in a condition to give consent for sexual interactions,' according to the affidavit.

Police said other videos show Schloss setting up his computer to record long periods of time and 'capturing himself having intercourse with different girls or possibly the same girl.' The women shown in the videos appear to be unaware they are being recorded, the warrant states.

Schloss's 40 charges relate to one victim. Gaarde said the investigation into Schloss' actions are ongoing and police still believe there are 'multiple' victims.

Criminal complaints in the case indicate Schloss abused the woman multiple times over a period beginning in May 2012 and continuing until Sept. 8, 2013. Police said in one instance — April 27, 2013 — the woman woke up in the middle of the abuse and repeatedly told Schloss to get off her. Schloss is accused of abusing the woman again on May 5, 2013.

Schloss allegedly told police that in each instance, the woman in the video knew about the sexual contact and was aware she was being recorded.

'The victim is clearly incapacitated,' numerous complaints read.