diff --git a/indra/llcommon/llapr.cpp b/indra/llcommon/llapr.cpp
index f030867ec478f5622a62ce238e261c5bcf0a1bfd..7330b00bcfd44c3b2e272127eb5e2134313fcbaa 100644
--- a/indra/llcommon/llapr.cpp
+++ b/indra/llcommon/llapr.cpp
@@ -535,11 +535,6 @@ S32 LLAPRFile::seek(apr_file_t* file_handle, apr_seek_where_t where, S32 offset)
 //static
 S32 LLAPRFile::readEx(const std::string& filename, void *buf, S32 offset, S32 nbytes, LLVolatileAPRPool* pool)
 {
-	if (offset < 0)
-	{
-		return 0; // do nothing, negative offsets don't make sense for reads
-	}
-
 	//*****************************************
 	apr_file_t* file_handle = open(filename, pool, APR_READ|APR_BINARY); 
 	//*****************************************	
@@ -548,10 +543,10 @@ S32 LLAPRFile::readEx(const std::string& filename, void *buf, S32 offset, S32 nb
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	llassert(offset >= 0);
+
 	if (offset > 0)
-	{
 		offset = LLAPRFile::seek(file_handle, APR_SET, offset);
-	}
 	
 	apr_size_t bytes_read;
 	if (offset < 0)