By: Courtney Tubbs | 09-13-2018 | News
Photo credit: WHJG / Idaho Statesman

Tale of Two Pedophiles: 288 Counts in Florida Child Porn Ring, Rape of an Idaho Five-Year-Old

There lay deep within the criminal underworld of America a darkened-heart filled with a pedophile epidemic, and today we're going to visit two cases, where one faces 288 counts of Child Porn, and another has raped a five-year-old child.

<strong><span style="color:red;">First Tale of a Florida Pedophile</span></strong>

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/b1e705f3c393f0fc1255b2b5b920bb6a4c7a8d5faa14a3ec5711885375039abf.jpg" style="max-height:640bpx;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">Credit:<a href="http://www.wjhg.com/content/news/Bonifay-man-facing-288-child-porn-related-charges-492971731.html"> WHJG Channel 7</a>.</span>

We begin explaining this perverse and abominable derangement with a 55-year-old Mark Ashcroft in Bonifay, Florida, who was caught as part of the largest online distribution of child pornography in Florida history, as reported by<a href="http://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Bonifay-man-charged-with-288-counts-of-child-porn-492973531.html"> local CBS affiliate WTVY Channel 4</a>.

The Holmes County Sheriff's Deputies worked in cooperation with the Walton County Sheriff's Office, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICACT) for six weeks to uncover the network of child pornographic distribution.

The case began with the Walton County Sheriff's Office in Franklin County monitoring activity on a file-sharing network hub.

Deputies said that's where countless images, and videos, all of which depicted prepubescent children engaged in forced sexual assault with adults; had been shared for the period of the investigation.

Eventually, law enforcement traced the source where the child pornography originated from, only to find it coming from a home on North Highway 79 in Bonifay.

Quickly obtaining a search warrant, agents and Deputies then planned and executed a raid on a residential property belonging to 55-year-old Mark Ashcroft.

Inside the home, they found and seized a computer which could be visibly seen both transmitting child pornographic files, as well as downloading the illicit materials.

Authorities also recovered several portable and external hard drives.

Further forensic analysis of those devices revealed 288 videos depicting explicit imagery of children between the ages of 7 and 15-years-old.

During interrogations with Ashcroft, he openly admitted to downloading and distributing the child pornographic materials and was arrested and charged with 288 counts of possession of child porn, and distribution of child porn transmitted via an electronic device.

Law enforcement has yet to examine all of the portable devices found inside the home and may find additional child pornographic images and videos when finished.

55-year-old Mark Ashcroft is now in the Holmes County Jail on a $2.8 million bond.

<strong><span style="color:red;">Second Tale of an Idaho Pedophile</span></strong>

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/b8fe0623d3260335987fb71c1f9d187076e79788359fb6eb6e455426deb5763c.jpg" style="max-height:640bpx;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">Credit:<a href="https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/year-old-caldwell-man-sentenced-for-counts-of-sexual-exploitation/article_49d01bab-acf0-58d9-b4fd-58d633f5cbf0.html"> Idaho Press</a>.</span>

The case begins last March when the Caldwell Police Department and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force were tipped off by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department that a pedophile who may be in their jurisdiction.

Investigators with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sent two cyber tips to the Idaho Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in January after learning Stephens had moved to Idaho, according to the affidavit.

By March, they'd identified and located the suspect.

After learning that man was none other than 34-year-old Edward Stephens, the Caldwell Police then served a search warrant at his home.

Stephens confessed to looking at child pornographic materials over the internet of young children, saying that he had done so for years from his smartphone.

He was then taken into custody and transported to the Canyon County Jail, where he would face charges for viewing child pornography online.

Shortly after that arrest, a woman contacted the Canyon County Sheriff's Office claiming Stephens had “inappropriately touched” a five-year-old child.

“Several hours after being booked into jail,” Decker added, “Stephens was confronted by a woman on a recorded phone call about inappropriately touching a five-year-old girl.”

That call prompted an investigation by the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office.

“During the investigation, the victim told investigators that Stephens had touched her inappropriately numerous times over the course of several months. Stephens repeatedly declined to speak with investigators about the incidents and refused to submit to a polygraph test,” said Decker.

Canyon County Sheriff's Detectives then met with Stephens, approaching him with the recorded phone conversation as showing the alleged crime.

During their investigation, the child victim told Detectives that Stephens had touched her inappropriately several times over the period of multiple months, at which time he refused any further questions.

Similarly, in an effort to obtain a polygraph, Stephens refused the demands of authorities to willingly submit to the lie detector test.

With negotiations from his attorney, Stephens would later enter an Alford guilty plea on a felony charge of battery with intent to commit a serious felony charge.

The probable cause affidavit states that Edward A. Stephens, who was arrested in March, had "been viewing child pornography for many years, and was worried about getting caught someday.”

In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a jury to convict him.

Canyon County District Judge Gene Petty would condemn Edward Stephens in the courtroom, giving the public in attendance a sense of justice.

“The fact that a lot of these children, including the minor you touched, were really young, especially with the 5-year-old, since it is a hard thing for them to come forward and make a statement on what happened to them,” Judge Petty said. “It is concerning when people are targeting children at that age.”

Petty then sentenced Stephens to five-years fixed-time in prison, followed by 15 years indeterminate, on a battery with the intent to commit a serious felony charge.

Stephens was also given a 10-year sentence, with five-years fixed, for each of the 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

All of the charges against Stephens will run concurrently, which sentences the dangerous pedophile behind bars for a total sentence of 20 years in prison.

The Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office had recommended a total unified sentence of six years fixed, followed by thirty years indeterminate.

“The charges will run concurrently for a total unified sentence of twenty years in prison. “Judge Petty said.

Judge Petty would also order Edward Stephens to “register as a sex offender for life,” said Canyon County spokesman Joe Decker.

This includes submission of a DNA sample to the Idaho database, where he will remain until death.

Stephens is also ordered to have no contact with the child victim, or any minors for the duration of the sentencing, as well as ordered him to pay a $4,000 fine and a $2,500 civil penalty.

"The defendant, in this case, had hundreds of images and videos of child pornography and openly admitted that he has been viewing them for years,” said Deputy Prosecutor Erica Kallin. “Then once he was in jail, investigators determined he had also been sexually abusing a young girl. This man was preying on the most vulnerable people in our community.”

<strong><i>”There is no doubt he belongs behind bars,” Deputy Prosecutor Kallin added.</i></strong>

<b>If you know of any child who may have been a victim of sexual exploitation, please call the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or visit the</b><a href="https://www.missingkids.com"> NCMEC’s website directly </a><b>to find assistance dependent upon the specific case you're interested in finding information for. </b>

<i>The scourge of child pornographic distribution continues to be eliminated under the Trump Administration, which has result in over 9000 arrests related to human and child-sex trafficking, child molestation, or child pornography since President Trump's inauguration in January of 2017, setting records in the widespread victories against the rampant pedophilia in America.</i>

<i>Members of the public who have information about child-sexual predators are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE tip line at 1-866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199.</i>

<a href="https://www.ice.gov/webform/hsi-tip-form">They can also submit a tip over the internet by completing ICE’s online form by clicking here.</a>

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is also bringing down suspected child-sex offenders through Operation Predator.

You can also contact ICE via the Operation Predator application for mobile devices. ICE has created a smartphone app – the first of its kind in U.S. federal law enforcement – designed to seek the public's help with fugitive and unknown suspect child predators.

The iOS version of the app can be downloaded from<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-predator/id695130859?mt=8"> Apple's App Store and iTunes</a>; the Android version is also available via<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.java.ice"> Google Play Store</a>.

<b>It is also time that we as a society hold our elected officials accountable in demanding stricter punishments be enforced with tough new legislation against anyone who would victimize a child, of either life imprisonment, of capital punishment. Oftentimes, they are released and re-offend. There is no rehabilitation for child sex offenders.</b>

<a href="https://www.house.gov/Representatives">Click here to find your elected officials in the House of Representatives.</a>

<a href="https://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_correspond_senators.htm">Click here to find your elected officials in the United States Senate.</a>

Additional Sources or Relevant Information:

http://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Bonifay-man-charged-with-288-counts-of-child-porn-492973531.html

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article218254350.html

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Thoughts on the above story? Comment below!
4 Comment/s
Anonymous No. 36911 2018-09-13 : 01:16

Whatever. If YOU support circumcision, then you're no better than they are.

Anonymous No. 36914 2018-09-13 : 02:03

Bitch what the fuck makes you think anyone supports the mark of thr beast

Appalled No. 36916 2018-09-13 : 02:48

Hang them by their ankles and cut both their balls and penis off and until they bleed out. They deserve no mercy for their disgusting actions. Men are so damn disgusting. Hell has a place for them.

Santastits No. 36926 2018-09-13 : 04:55

"Hang them by their ankles and cut both their balls and penis off and until they bleed out. They deserve no mercy for their disgusting actions. Men are so damn disgusting. Hell has a place for them. "

I'd choose an Ed Stephens over this thoroughly ghoulish person any day.

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