ROCKINGHAM — A 43-year-old man is facing felony charges for allegedly having photos depicted sexual acts with young children.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday assisted agents with the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday with an investigation involving obscene materials being sent via the internet, according to a statement.
Investigators say officers searched the Branch Trail home of Jackie Heath McKenzie and seized “items used for the purposes of sending material via the internet.
According to arrest warrants, McKenzie had in his possession, with the intent to unlawfully disseminate, images of a child under the age of two being sexually abused, in addition to images of a child under the age of one involved in sexual activity.
It is not clear if McKenzie himself took the photos or was involved in the abuse.
He was arrested and charged with three felony counts each of second-degree exploitation of a minor and disseminating obscenity. McKenzie was booked into the Richmond County Jail under a $750,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 16.
According to a release order, McKenzie stated that he has “large monetary sums which causes him to be a flight risk.”
Online records with the N.C. Court System and N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show McKenzie has no other pending charges or past criminal convictions in North Carolina. His name also does not appear in a search of the state or national sex offender registries.
McKenzie isn’t the only person in the Sandhills recently charged with having child pornography.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that 69-year-old Stephen Spear, of Hoke County, was charged with 114 counts of second- and third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said the images were found on computers and records that lawmen seized during a 2016 investigation of animal cruelty and neglect at The Haven-Friends for Life — where 600 animals were found in poor conditions — that Spear and his wife operated, according to the AP.
Spear was charged in 2009 with second- and third-degree exploitation of a minor. Cumberland County prosecutors dismissed those charges in 2013 after Spear agreed to a plea bargain, the AP reports.
Spear is being held on $228,000 bail on the latest charges.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Reach William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.
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