East Bay man brought laptop full of child pornography to Best Buy’s Geek Squad, police say

UNION CITY — Police here are crediting one of Best Buy’s so-called “geeks” with turning in a man suspected of downloading child pornography after he brought his computer in for repairs.

Gary Whaley, 80, allegedly brought his laptop to a Best Buy in Union City because he had a problem transferring data on it. The technician who attempted to repair the laptop discovered a different problem: numerous nude pictures of girls, some estimated to be as young as 6 years old, according to police.

Now Whaley, an Alameda resident, is facing a felony charge. At his Dec. 12 arraignment, Judge Kevin Wong granted the defense’s request to release him from jail but ordered Whaley to not possess any child pornography, records show.

Authorities say that investigators are going through 1.6 million files found in Whaley’s computer to see how much child pornography they can find. During a search of his home they found 94 printed pictures of suspected child sexual abuse material, police said in court records.

Whaley allegedly admitted to gathering child pornography at one point in his life but told police that his “porn interest” changed over time and he no longer has any use for it, according to court records.

This isn’t the first time a Geek Squad employee has turned in a child pornography suspect in the East Bay. Back in 2023, a Pinole Best Buy technician called police after a 76-year-old San Pablo man brought his computer in for repairs. The man complained he was having trouble accessing Youtube on his web browser, but when the man pressed down the “y” key to check the problem, one of the San Pablo man’s recent searches automatically popped up — it was for a video depicting sexual abuse of a 6-year-old and 4-year-old boy and girl, according to police.

The San Pablo man was arrested but to date has not been charged, according to court records.