Ronald Leroy Vaughn
Prince Frederick, MD – A Calvert County man is facing charges of possessing, promoting and distributing child pornography following his arrest Friday, July 29 by investigators. The accused is identified in court documents as Ronald Leroy Vaughn, 70 of Prince Frederick. The court summary indicated Vaughn could be facing additional charges.
The investigation that led to Vaughn’s arrest at his residence began back in early March, according to the state of charges submitted by Detective Michael Mudd of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office. Mudd had received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) about videos depicting young child performing lurid sex acts. The transmissions were all traced to an Internet address in Calvert County, the court documents indicated.
The Internet addresses were subsequently connected to Vaughn and authorities executed a search and seizure warrant at his residence. During an audio-taped conversation with an investigator “Vaughn confessed to possessing child pornography and the distribution of child pornography,” Mudd stated in court documents. “He identified the location of the pornography in his home.” According to Mudd, Vaughn also identified the “screen names” discovered during the initial investigation as his “monikers.”
“Several items of evidence were recovered to include three computers and various other items,” Mudd stated. “A forensically sound software program was run on two of the target computers. This investigator personally viewed multiple videos and photos depicting sexual acts performed on or by nude prepubescent male and females.”
Mudd stated in the court papers that individuals “who hold such a large collection of child pornography often traffic, trade and/or distribute images and videos of child pornography. It was seen in the chat logs of Ronald Vaughn that he in fact traded multiple files that contained commonly known tag names associated with child pornography. Mudd stated that Vaughn “described in the chat logs how he seduced children and groomed them to have sex. He described to other persons how to have sex with toddlers. Vaughn described that he has had sex with children as young as 6-years-old.”
Mudd stated in court documents that “at this time the quantity of child pornography is too large to catalogue and a forensic exam will take several days.
Vaughn is being held in the Calvert County Detention Center in lieu of $160,801, according to posted court information. A preliminary hearing on the state’s case against Vaughn is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 30 in District Court.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com