More charges filed against Hughesville man after phone extraction
Hughesville, Pa. — A Hughesville man who was arrested after a family member discovered child pornography on his phone is facing additional sex charges, police say.
The new charges came after police finished extracting all the data from three phones belonging to 48-year-old Christopher Michael Stout and discovered sexual videos and pictures of children as young as 10, police say. Prior to Stout's preliminary hearing Friday morning at District Judge Kirsten Gardner's office, police tacked on more than 80 new sex charges, bringing the total to 123.
Stout, who is being represented by the Lycoming County Public Defender's Office, waived the hearing.
The updated charges include 67 counts of second-degree child pornography, 35 of third-degree felony child pornography, 15 criminal use of a communication facility, and three each of corruption of minors and criminal solicitation. He is being held at the Lycoming County Prison on $95,000 monetary bail.
Stout is scheduled to appear before Judge Ryan Tira for a formal arraignment at the beginning of October. He is being held at the Lycoming County Prison.
According to a police affidavit, a family member who had suspicions of Stout's "weird" behavior on social media took his cell phone while he slept and discovered Instagram accounts with photos and conversations involving young girls. That family member then went to police with what they found.
An extensive investigation with the Computer Crimes team revealed that Stout's IP address at his residence had been "flagged" several times for possible criminal activity.
Stout had allegedly messaged young girls on social media using the names "biggchillzhome" and "let_me_hit_itfromtheback," Boyer said. He searched for social media accounts through hashtags that included "#muncypool," "#muncypoolfun," "#hughesvillecheer," and "#hughesvillecheerleading," according to investigators.
Police found six explicit conversations with minors on three phones, according to the complaint. All of them involved Stout requesting images, videos, and specific sex acts from the victims. In one, Stout asks the victim if they wanted to video each other masturbating.
Hughesville police, detectives with the Lycoming County District Attorney's Office, and Pennsylvania State Police raided Stout's home to seize three cell phones, including two iPhones and an old Motorola G7 inside a pillow case on his bed, according to an affidavit. Stout had claimed he used the Motorola, which he said was not active, as an alarm.
Stout was positively identified by a body part in one of his own nude photos, according to police. Also identified was the comforter on Stout's bed. Preservation requests were made for the social media accounts on Aug. 21.
