DAYTON — A Dayton facing 10 felony charges related to child pornography offered to buy video games for a boy in exchange for nude photos and videos was indicted Friday.
Michael Kent, 48, of Dayton, faces 10 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor. He’s not currently in jail and his arraignment is set for Mar. 24.
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Dayton police were contacted by deputies in Stafford County, Virginia in October, after a man told officers his 12-year-old son was approached by a man online for pornographic images and photos.
Police found the 12-year-old had been communicating with the man on the social media app Discord.
The 12-year-old said he did send the adult photos of himself.
“The male would then threaten to expose (the boy) if he did not continue to send more images,” court records said.
Police ended up tracking the account that was used back to Kent’s address on Rita Street in Dayton.
During a search warrant served at Kent’s home, police seized multiple hard drives, computers and also found at least six marijuana plants and equipment for a possible grow operation, court records read.
“Within those devices photos of (the 12-year-old) were located,” court records read. “In addition there were also multiple images of young male models, and multiple videos of juvenile males engaged in sexual acts with other juvenile males and adults.”
Discord says on its website that it scans images shared on its app for child pornography.
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“We scan 100 percent of images and videos uploaded to our platform using industry-standard PhotoDNA to detect matches to known child sexual abuse material,” Discord’s website read. “When we find someone who is engaging in illegal activity, we investigate their networks and their activity on Discord to proactively uncover accomplices or other sources of the content.”
Court records showed Discord’s response to court orders for information on Kent’s account helped leader officers to the Dayton man.
Tiffany Dulin, the Intervention Center Director for the Montgomery County Juvenile Court, told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell that more children and young teens than ever are online and don’t always have natural defenses up to protect themselves.
“Somebody asking them for their personal information or pictures, that is usually a red flag that something may be wrong, especially if you don’t know this person,” Dulin said.
Dulin told WHIO that parent must talk about the dangers from any online sites and people that try to become their friends way too fast. She also said to warn kids to never exchange pictures and personal information online. Additionally, she said parent should not be afraid to track their kids’ online activity.
“In this time and age, you have to,” Dulin said. “You literally have to be aware of what your child, son or daughter, is doing.”
Kent also was indicted on two felony drug charges related to marijuana, records show.
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