Man pleads not guilty to child porn charges
A Hooks, Texas, man accused of possessing and sharing images of child pornography appeared Friday morning in a Bowie County courtroom on the first floor of Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana.
Roger Dale Ross II, 36, entered a not-guilty plea to the charges with the help of Texarkana lawyer Shorty Barrett last month. At Friday’s hearing, Barrett told 202nd District Judge Leon Pesek Jr. he is in the process of reviewing evidence the state intends to use against Ross.
“We have received an offer from the state on this case,” Barrett said. “There are some complicated technical issues in this case.”
Barrett asked Pesek to give him additional time to evaluate the evidence, which likely includes forensic computer analysis by members of law enforcement.
Ross first came to the attention of authorities locally after an investigator with the Dallas Crimes Against Children task force contacted Bowie County Sheriff’s Office about a sexually explicit image of a young girl posted on Instagram by a user with the screen name “nolimitdad,” according to a probable-cause affidavit used to create the following account.
An Internet account investigators tentatively linked to Ross was suspected of uploading an image of a little girl between the ages 3 and 6 engaged in sexual contact with an adult male. While the Internet protocol address led detectives to a relative of Ross, the email address connected with the offensive image turned out to be bogus. When interviewed in June 2014, Ross denied any knowledge of the child pornography.
But Ross’ name, a different email address and a telephone number linked to him surfaced again in
October 2014 in an investigation by cyber crimes investigators in Vermont.
“Roger Dale Ross II engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the Vermont defendant that clearly acknowledges the intent to distribute child pornography,” the affidavit states.
The image Ross is accused of sending to a suspect in Vermont contained a very young girl engaged in a sex act with a man.
Investigators in Bowie County believe Ross is responsible for uploading the graphic images of children discovered by Dallas and Vermont detectives.
If convicted, Ross faces two to 10 years in a Texas prison.