Tip leads to OSP Prineville raid, child porn arrest

An Oregon State Police raid on a Prineville residence led to an arrest of a 33-year-old man on child pornography-related charges, troopers said Friday.

OSP troopers and detectives members served search warrants Thursday at 191 NW 8th Street in Prineville as part of an ongoing child pornography investigation, said Lt. Bill Fugate.

Ryan Marc Babcock was arrested on multiple counts of encouraging child sexual abuse and possession of materials depicting sexually explicit conduct of children.

According to Detective Mitch Meyer, the investigation began when OSP received a tip from the Oregon Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Team.

The tip indicated that someone in Prineville was sharing pornographic images of children engaged in sexual relations with other adults. This person also allegedly created an email account under a false name in order to conceal his true identity.

A search warrant was applied for and granted authorizing the release of Babcock’s Internet activity and related data.

OSP detectives, working in conjunction with the Oregon Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Team, learned that Babcock allegedly had been trading sexually explicit images with others through the fictitious email account.

An additional warrant was granted to search Babcock’s residence after his identity was revealed.

Several smartphones, laptop computers and data storage devices were seized from his home, Fugate said. The computers and smartphones will be forensically analyzed for additional evidence, and attempts will be made to identify the children depicted in the images.

Babcock was lodged at the Crook County Jail on the two dozen charges — 12 counts each of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse and second-degree charges of possessing materials depicting sexually explicit conduct of children.

The investigation is continuing and no further information available for release at this time, Fugate said.