Man arrested on child porn charges

Following months of investigation, a man living in Charles County at the time has been arrested and charged with possessing child pornography.

John Edward Hall, 72, of Drayden was arrested May 10 after police reportedly discovered child pornography on an electronic device which belonged to him, court records show. Charles County Sheriff’s Office investigators had suspected that Hall had uploaded five images depicting child porn to the internet in October 2016, prompting their investigation.

Hall, who had been living with family in Hughesville when the investigation began, told detectives in March that he “was doing research for a book he is writing on internet pornography,”

and that he had been looking at adult and child porn for several years, and had viewed content the previous week. Hall then gave police two external hard drives, two thumb drives and three laptops, which were then analyzed further, allegedly revealing

child pornography. Det. K. Gross also notes in Hall’s charging documents that in an online conversation, Hall told a woman that he had touched an 11-year-old boy in a sexual manner while living in Florida.

Hall was kicked out of the Hughesville residence and

had been living in an RV park in Drayden, where he was arrested, according to court records.

Hall remains in custody after his bond was set at $10,000 on May 11, per court records.