It’s the first public communication from Nevada County Supervisor Terry Lamphier since his house was searched a week ago today. Lamphier, through a Chico-based attorney, released a statement, saying in part, “I have not proactively and knowingly clicked on, visited, or downloaded any inappropriate material from sites, such as those referenced by local news agencies. I have confidence that as the matter proceeds, these distinctions will be recognized by law enforcement and there will be a quick and just resolution to this investigation.” Tuesday, Nevada County officials, led by Sheriff Keith Royal, met with reporters and disclosed that Lamphier’s office computer contained several “inappropriate”, and in Royal’s words “illegal” pictures of underage girls. Royal estimated the ages of the girls as being from six to ten, but did not elaborate on the nature of the photos.

The following is the complete statement…

Press Release from Terry Lamphier
October 30, 2014
The highly controversial and alarming situation I now find myself in began about
a week ago, as follows. Our Nevada County assistant CEO, Ms. Alison Lehman, handed me an anonymous letter that had been dropped off to our County receptionist, stating no one had a description of the delivery person. The correspondence made no specific allegations, but implied improper use of a county computer.
Ms. Lehman indicated that 24/7 system-wide Nevada County monitoring system had not
raised any “red flags” of impropriety or improper use of my County computer.
Last Friday, a search warrant was delivered to my home in Grass Valley. Cooperating
fully with serving officers, and thanking the officers, I complimented them on the exercise of professionalism and courtesy. I was deeply shocked and distressed by the seriousness of
the law enforcement visit.
Friday evening, the potential gravity and seriousness of the situation indicated a need to
engage an attorney but of course was unable to do so over the weekend.
When the workweek commenced, so did the process of obtaining legal counsel.
Returning in the evening home I observed a newspaper reporter interviewing my neighbor.
Aware of the pitfalls in any legal situation and with an election looming, I chose not to either stop at my house or engage with the reporter unrepresented by counsel.
Although not arrested, accused, or charged criminally, I have now secured legal services
of the Rooney Law Firm, specifically, Michael M. Rooney (530) 362-4030.
My direct response to the media releases follows here:
On occasion, I have conducted international internet searches, placing a foreign
country’s international domain registration letters into a web server’s search function. In
most cases, the search term is simply two letters, for example, the United States is us and Russia is ru.
When I conducted internet searches, there is the option to have results filtered as to
content, typically with a “strict”, “moderate” or “no filter” set of choices. Mine is set to
“no filter”. There is no other set of search parameters involved by simply putting in a country’s domain registration and anything can come up.
These benign actions are available to everyone throughout the United States and, to my
knowledge, are nowhere near considered illegal actions. However, there is also no control as to what is returned in an unrestricted search.
As for my personal actions, contrary to what is being alleged in the media, I have
not used the search function to locate or access any illegal site.
To reiterate: I have not proactively and knowingly “clicked on, visited, or downloaded”
any inappropriate material from sites such as those referenced by local news agencies.
I have confidence that as the matter proceeds, these distinctions will be
recognized by law enforcement and there will be a quick and just resolution of this
investigation.