Former Church Puppeteer Arrested For Child Porn, 15 Years Around Children
Many members of a local church community were shocked by the child pornography charges filed against Ronald Brown from Largo, Florida. Brown was a puppeteer who volunteered there for years in the children's ministry.
Gulf Coast Pastor Randy Morris told the news station he was "obviously very shocked and sick to my stomach over the allegations. And disappointed."
He said Brown volunteered for at least 15 years, working with the puppet ministry and driving a van to pick up children for church. The pastor added from what he knows, Brown was never alone at the church with any child at any time.
Florida puppeteer Ronald Brown appeared in federal court Tuesday on charges of child pornography and conspiring to kidnap a child, CBS Tampa reports.
Brown, 57, was arrested Friday after an international investigation conducted by the Department of Homeland Security. A criminal complaint followed Brown's graphic online conversation with another man about kidnapping, sexually abusing, murdering and eating children, CBS Tampa reported.
A search warrant was issued on July 19 for Brown's residence. Homeland Security Investigators seized media including CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, micro disks and VHS tapes that contained several images of naked, bound and seemingly dead children.
Brown does not appear to have a criminal record, but he was stopped for a 1998 traffic violation in which an officer saw boys' underwear in the front seat, according to WUSA. He told the deputy he used the underwear for dressing his puppets.
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