Lebanon man charged in child porn download
30-year-old accused of using neighbor’s Wi-Fi to download material.
Charles Minner, 30, is accused of using a neighbor’s Wi-Fi connection to access multiple files of minors in sexual activity.
A Lebanon man LEBANON — accused of using a neighbor’s Wi-Fi to download child pornography remained in the Warren County Jail on Friday after his arraignment on 30 felony counts.
Charles Minner was arrested after an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation initially focused on someone else, according to court records, including a search warrant returned by a state investigator on April 6, 2017.
Minner, 30, was arraigned Friday on 30 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.
Magistrate Andrew Hasselbach set bond at $10,000 and ordered Minner to be attached to electronic monitoring and remain on house arrest. A no-contact order also was issued.
“You’re not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18,” Hasselbach said. “None whatsoever.”
Minner’s appointed lawyer, Martin Hubbell, was out of town Friday.
The case stems from a search warrant Special Agent John Rodriguez and Lebanon police served last year at a Columbus Avenue home. Rodriguez outlined in court records how he traced downloads of alleged child pornography from peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
On Feb. 28, 2017, the agent was “able to conduct a single source download of suspected child sexual exploitation files” and download 92 files, Rodgriguez, part of BCI’s Northeast Region Crimes Against Children Unit, said in a 25-page affidavit.
The affidavit lists the apparent address of the downloads on
continued from B1 Columbus Avenue, which is also the address indicated as Minner’s address in court records. On Thursday, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell verified that Minner was alleged to have used “somebody else’s wifi. But the images were on his devices.”
Minner allegedly “possessed images which contained minors used in sexual activity” in February and March 2017, according to a description included with the case and reported Friday by the prosecutor’s office as grand jury indictments.
“This was an investigation led by our BCI Crimes Against Children Unit into allegations that the defendant was downloading/sharing images of child pornography. We conducted a search warrant where electronics were seized and had to be analyzed,”Jill Del Greco, BCI public information officer, said earlier this week.
Of the 30 charges, half are for possession of and half for distributing child pornography stored on three electronic devices, Fornshell said.
A warrant was issued Monday for Minner’s arrest. On Thursday, Minner was in the Warren County Jail pending his arraignment.
“He was involved in the possession of hundreds of images of minors engaging in sexual activity or sexual conduct,” Assistant County Prosecutor John Arnold said during the arraignment Friday.