D.A.: Man secretly recorded women
LOWER FREDERICK >> In what prosecutors allege is a case of invasion of privacy, a Lower Frederick man secretly filmed women in his bathroom and during sexual encounters and also was found to possess child pornography on his electronic devices.
David H. Allshouse III, 28, of the unit block of Village Drive, was arraigned before District Court Judge Christopher Cerski on 83 felony counts of possessing child pornography, five counts of invasion of privacy
and one count of criminal use of a communication facility in connection with alleged incidents that occurred in April.
On Aug. 5, Cerski originally set bail at $75,000 cash with conditions that Allshouse have no contact with the three victims and be placed on electronic monitoring. On Aug. 6, during a bail review hearing as part of Montgomery County’s new Pre-Trial Services Program, county Judge Garrett D. Page reduced Allshouse’s bail to $1,000 cash with no other conditions.
Allshouse posted bail and was released to await an Aug. 17 preliminary hearing on the charges before District Court Judge Maurice Saylor.
The charges against Allshouse were announced on Thursday by District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.
The investigation began in April when county detectives received two CyberTips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding 11 digital files that appeared to be child pornography that were uploaded to two Dropbox accounts subsequently linked to Allshouse, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Walter Kerr.
The video files depicted underage females in various stages of undress or in sexual acts or poses, according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives confirmed the uploaded video files were child pornography and then traced the Dropbox account information and internet subscriber information to Allshouse’s residence in Lower Frederick, according to the arrest affidavit.
Armed with a search warrant, detectives went to Allshouse’s residence on June 22 and seized numerous electronic devices, including a laptop computer, an iPhone and a small concealable camera.
Allshouse was home at the time of the search and during an interview he allegedly admitted to downloading and sharing images of children engaged in sexual activity, according to the arrest affidavit.
“Allshouse admitted to using a computer located in his bedroom to view and exchange images of child pornography,” Kerr alleged.
A forensic examination of the laptop and iPhone found five videos that appeared to have been produced by Allshouse. One video allegedly found on Allshouse’s phone depicted an adult woman using the bathroom in his residence.
“In the video, the female’s genitals are exposed and it does not appear she is aware of the fact that she is being recorded,” Kerr alleged.
A forensic analysis of the phone also uncovered “five video files which appear to be self-produced, depicting Allshouse engaged in sexual intercourse with adult women,” detectives alleged in the criminal complaint. The investigation found that the women depicted in the videos created by Allshouse did not know about or consent to being videotaped.
Detectives also located 73 photographs or image files on the laptop computer which previously were identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as child abuse material and at least 10 of the images depicted children under the age of 13 engaged in indecent contact, according to the criminal complaint.
Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Soreth of the district attorney’s Family Protection Unit is prosecuting the case.
Steele said investigators with the Special Victims Unit of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, along with specially trained and sworn detectives from police departments throughout the county, routinely work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to protect children from internet predators by aggressively and proactively investigating internet crimes that exploit children.