Carroll County Sheriffs teamed up with Manchester Valley High School students and authorities in Wisconsin to catch a man trying to solicit explicit photographs of the students through social media, the sheriff's department announced Wednesday.
A female student at the high school was contacted by someone on Snapchat in September, asking that she send him explicit photos of herself. After school administrators and the school's resource officer became involved, it was determined several other students had received similar requests.
The Snapchat account holder making the requests said he was a student at a local school, but would not reveal his name. An investigation between deputies and the Carroll County Child Advocacy and Investigation Center was able to identify the owner of the Snapchat account as a man from Lake Geneva, Wisc.
Local authorities in his jurisdiction were contacted to continue investigating the allegations, eventually obtaining a search warrant for the man's home.
On Oct. 25, law enforcement in Lake Geneva executed the warrant and found significant amounts of child pornography., arresting 35-year-old David A Drummond, a registered sex offender. He was charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of solicitation of child pornography from juvenile victims from Maryland, and one count of violating his terms of sex offender registration.
Authorities are continuing to investigate Drummond in Wisconsin, but no charges are expected to be placed in Maryland, the sheriff's department said.
Sheriffs used the investigation to remind parents and students to be wary of online solicitations and who contacts them through social media. If someone thinks they have been contacted by a suspicious person, notify a parent, school staff, or the county sheriffs at 410-386-5900.
