Cowley man arrested for possession of child porn

Big Horn County Sheriff’s deputies recently arrested 39-year-old Gregory Brimhall Weinand of Cowley on a warrant out of Montgomery County, Texas, on charges related to alleged possession of child pornography. Deputies assisted U.S. Marshalls with the arrest of Weinand in Cowley last month.
After being held for a short time at the Big Horn County Detention Center in Basin, Weinand was extradited to Texas by authorities from that jurisdiction.
“I don’t think people realize how much this goes on in communities,” said Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn. “In fact, with the Internet, the effects are far reaching.”
According to Montgomery County public records, Weinand is currently being held in Montgomery County Detention Center on five counts of possession with intent to promote child pornography, a second-degree felony in the state of Texas. Bail has been set for $100,000 per count for a total of $500,000.
Charging documents made available to the Chronicle through a Freedom of Information Act request, described five graphic pornographic videos depicting children estimated in age from infant to age seven. The videos were referred to in the charging document as a “representative sample” of 175 images that were allegedly in Weinand’s possession. The document stated that “the majority of the (175) videos and images were child pornography.”
Though much of the charging document is redacted, the portion that is public information describes a scenario where Weinand is accused of communicating with an individual who posed as a “28-year-old female with an 8-year-old daughter from Conroe, Texas,” when, in fact, the individual was an undercover law enforcement agent trained specifically to investigate child exploitation. The un-redacted portion of the document did not describe the alleged communication between Weinand and the undercover agent.
The charging document further describes how the undercover officer tracked Weinand through his IP address identifying the location of the computer he is alleged to have been using during the communication and further confirmed his identity and location through facial recognition software and various other means, including Facebook and information obtained through subpoenas sent to Internet providers.
No other information is publicly available at this time. Since the case is not being handled by the Big Horn County Sheriff’s office, Sheriff Blackburn could not comment on the details, but he cautioned that persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Weinand waved his right to a formal arraignment and reading of the indictment. He has entered a plea of not guilty. A court date has been scheduled for July 9, 2024, in the 221st judicial district court of Montgomery County Texas.