Police fear girl in sex video still being abused

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- A girl was found "safe and well" after authorities released images of her from a videotape that also showed a man performing explicit sex acts on a younger girl.

The girl who was found, who detectives earlier said they think was 10 to 12 years old, was not sexually abused and "never suffered as a victim at the hands of the perpetrator as the first girl has," Nye County Sheriff's Detective David Boruchowitz said.

The part of the video showing the older girl was shot in Nye County, a rural county near Las Vegas, Boruchowitz said. Details were not disclosed, and no additional information about the identity of the girl or the circumstances of how she came to be on the video was made public.

But Boruchowitz said investigators feared the younger girl was in danger. Sheriff's detectives were also seeking a man whose image was seen on the video.

Boruchowitz earlier characterized a segment of the tape showing the older girl as "some kind of peep show" filmed from a different room. Investigators were examining whether parts of the tape showing the younger girl were filmed with the same video camera, he said. Watch the sheriff describe the investigation »

Still photos of the younger girl, fully clothed, have been widely broadcast.

Boruchowitz said the photos of the younger girl were being released because her life could be in danger.

"She could still be in this situation and (be) abused currently as we speak," Boruchowitz said.

"The easiest way to explain it is if you can imagine the absolute worst things that can happen to a little girl at the hands of an adult male, that has happened and beyond," he said of the video. "It is by far the most heinous and horrible thing that you can possibly imagine on there."

A 26-year-old Pahrump man, Darren Tuck, surrendered the tape to Nye County sheriff's investigators September 8, after another man reported seeing it, Boruchowitz said.

Tuck told detectives he found the videotape in the desert outside Pahrump more than five months ago, although Boruchowitz said the tape didn't appear to have been exposed to weather or elements.

Investigators think the tape is less than two years old, a sheriff's office official told CNN.

Boruchowitz said investigators don't think Tuck made the tape. Tuck was arrested September 19 on charges of promoting child pornography and possession of child pornography, felonies. The top charge carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison.

Tuck was released without bail, pending arraignment November 26 in Pahrump Justice Court, a court official said.

Pahrump is a small town 60 miles west of Las Vegas. E-mail to a friend

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