Cops Thwart Man’s Desperate Giga-Bite Bid

APRIL 20--As cops searched his home as part of a corruption of children probe, a Pennsylvania man attempted to swallow a flash drive that he had dropped into a pitcher of water, according to police.

While police executed a search warrant Monday at his Bushkill home, Harold Moser, 46, told officers that he was “really thirsty” and asked for permission to get something to drink. Accompanied by a cop, Moser went into the kitchen and retrieved an orange pitcher, which he then began to fill with water.

At one point, a Bushkill Township Police Department officer looked over Moser’s shoulder and “noticed something in the bottom of the pitcher.” That is when Moser, pictured in the mug shot at right, reached into the pitcher and tried to swallow the black and purple item. A struggle then ensued between Moser and the cop, who grabbed Moser’s arm “to keep the item from being ingested,” according to a police criminal complaint.

The suspect had to be “taken to the ground and Tasered,” police reported, because he “was actively fighting the police, still trying to eat the USB drive.” As a result, Moser was charged with tampering with evidence and resisting arrest. He was booked into the Northampton County lockup, where he remains in custody in lieu of $15,000 bail.

The search warrant for Moser’s residence authorized investigators to seize computers, cameras, and any other items that can be used to take or store pictures. Moser was arrested two years ago for filming himself having sex with his girlfriend while his son watched from a nearby playpen. At the time, he was also reportedly being investigated for taking pornographic photos of a nine-year-old girl for whom he babysat.

Last year, a man in Secret Service custody succeeded in swallowing a Kingston flash drive in an apparent bid to destroy evidence of his role in a fraud ring. The four gigabyte device was eventually extracted from Florin Necula during a medical procedure at a New York City hospital. Necula subsequently pleaded guilty to three federal felony charges--including obstruction of justice for swallowing the flash drive--and is scheduled to be sentenced in June. (3 pages)