Ohio Supreme Court upholds search of abandoned laptop

COLUMBUS (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the convictions of a man put on trial based on sexually explicit photos of children found on a computer hard drive that authorities say he’d abandoned.

Dennis Gould had argued that the police search of the hard drive without a warrant violated his constitutional rights.

The court ruled unanimously today that Gould gave up his expectations for privacy in 2006 when he disappeared after stealing his brother’s truck and left all his belongings behind.

Authorities say the 47-year-old Toledo man raped a 7-year-old girl and put pictures of him performing sex acts on the girl on his hard drive.

Court records say the hard drive also contained child-porn movies.

Gould was convicted in 2008 and is serving 13 years to life.