SC “Sextortionist” Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Child Pornography Charges

An allegedly sextortionist from Myrtle Beach, SC pleaded not guilty to three federal child pornography charges on Thursday, August 28th, in a federal court in Florence.

Mark Robert Reynolds stands accused of pressuring a 14-year-old girl to send him sexually explicit photos through social media sites, like Facebook and Instagram. Magistrate Judge Kaymani West gave Reynolds a $100,000 bond for the federal child pornography charges, but stipulated that before the trial, Reynolds must be in home confinement for 6 months with electronic monitoring, and without access to a computer or the internet.

Reynolds was charged with two felony charges of receipt and distribution of child pornography, and one felony charge of possessing child pornography involving a prepubescent minor. If convicted of the federal child pornography charges, Reynolds faces up to 60 years in prison.

Homeland Security began investigating the child pornography case in July this year, after a Michigan girl claimed she had been contacted and pressured by a person claiming to be an 18-year-old man living in Georgia. Reynolds contacted the girl through Instagram and Kik Messenger, where the girl sent a picture of herself wearing a bathing suit and then another of her wearing underwear.

After the two initial photos were sent, Reynolds allegedly began requesting nude photos, and threatened to post the images she had already sent online if she did not comply. She eventually sent the nude photos, but the problem continued to escalate, with Reynolds extorting more images from her by threatening to post the previous set of images on the internet.

After obtaining a search warrant, authorities seized a Nook tablet, a laptop computer, a Playstation Portable, and unspecified documents from Reynolds’s home in Myrtle Beach.

The Strom Law Firm Can Defend Federal Child Pornography Charges

Have you been given a child pornography charge? Child Pornography Charges are very serious. Many people don’t know this, but getting charged with these type of charges can ruin both your personal and professional reputation.

Some of the most common sex crime charges are:

• Distribution of child pornography
• Production of child pornography
• Use of child pornography
• Possession of child pornography
• Sex with a minor
• Sexual assault

All computers have IP address that can be used to identify whether you have accessed child pornography from your computer. Also, you could get caught with child pornography if you have child pornography on your hard drive and have your computer repaired by a technician.

Everyone, including tweens and teens, carries a cell phone these days.  Combined with the recent trend of sending racy pictures, there is a new area of potential liability for child pornography.  While interpretive case law is not completely clear yet, under existing law, it remains illegal to send or receive child pornography including nude pictures shared between minors.

Being caught with child pornography on your computer usually implies that you intentionally downloaded the pornography and purposefully viewed it. The defense attorneys at the Strom Law Firm will aggressively fight to defend your rights and provide you with the best defense against federal child pornography and sex crime charges. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case, so contact us today at 803.252.4800.