Prineville child-porn suspect flees state, captured in Fla.
A Prineville man arrested in June on child pornography charges was released on bail and fled the state before two more victims were identified, leading to a nationwide manhunt and his capture in Florida a month ago, Oregon State Police said Wednesday.
Ryan Marc Babcock, 33, was arrested Aug. 31 in Jacksonville, Fla., and is being extradited back to Oregon by federal marshals, said OSP Lt. Bill Fugate.
On June 18, OSP troopers and detectives served search warrants at a home on Northwest Eighth Street in Prineville as part of an ongoing child pornography investigation, Fugate said.
Babcock was arrested on several counts of encouraging child sexual abuse and possession of materials depicting sexually explicit conduct of children.
According to OSP Det. 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. The person also created an email account under a false name in order to conceal his true identity, he said..
A search warrant was applied for and granted authorizing the release of Babcock’s Internet activity and related data. Oregon State Police Detectives, working in conjunction with the Oregon Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Team, learned that Babcock had been trading sexually explicit images with others through the fictitious email account. An additional warrant was granted to search Babcock’s home after his identity was revealed.
Babcock was lodged at the Crook County Jail on charges including first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse and second-degree possession of materials depicting sexually explicit conduct of children.
Crook County Sheriff Jim Hensley said a judge set Babcock’s bail at $50,000 and he posted the required 10 percent and was released from jail on June 24.
After Babcock’s release, OSP detectives identified two sex abuse minor victims, Fugate said. OSP, along with the Crook County District Attorney’s Office, facilitated arrest warrants for the new charges.
Troopers learned he had left the state and began efforts to locate him on a nationwide warrant and to be held on $1 million bail. Reported sightings of Babcock in Ohio in mid-August failed to pan out.
