Staff report
LANDIS ó A motion for the arrest and return to jail of the former chief of the Landis Police Department has been filed.
Charles Randall Childers, who was charged last summer with soliciting sexual activity from a minor and distributing child pornography online, is accused of accessing the Internet through his cell phone.
If true, that’s a violation of one of the conditions of his release status that stipulated that Childers have “no access to computers/Internet” while free and awaiting trial.
According to a motion filed May 22 by Anna Mills Wagoner, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, Childers admitted he’d been accessing the Internet on a daily basis via his cell phone. According to court documents, Childers didn’t deny accessing the Internet, saying he did so in order to “check his e-mail.”
The information was delivered to Wagoner’s office by Michael Renigar, Childers’ probation officer.
“It is this officer’s opinion that the defendant intentionally violated his conditions of release when, after being ordered by the court to not access the Internet, he continued to do so on a daily basis,” Renigar wrote. “Considering the nature of this case, and the possible danger to the community, the probation officer recommends that a warrant be issued for Childers and that his bond be revoked.”
It was unclear Sunday night if any action has been taken on the request.
Childers is accused of engaging in illicit acts with law enforcement agents in Michigan and North Carolina that he believed to be young girls.
The complaint alleges that Childers, 50, using the Yahoo! screen name “Chance 5252,” began communicating with a Michigan agent posing as a 14-year-old girl.
According to the document, Childers masturbated in front of a Web camera during an online session and asked the agent posing as a young girl to mail her panties to the Landis Police Department’s post office box.
He later began similar correspondence with an agent who he believed to be a North Carolina teenager.
Childers resigned from the police department following his arrest. He posted a $50,000 unsecured bond pending his trial.
Other conditions of Childers’ probation included that he:
– Not possess or view any pornographic material;
– Not loiter near school yards, playgrounds, swimming pools, arcades or any other places frequented by children;
– Not be employed or volunteer in any activity that involves contact with minor children and;
– Refrain from any use of alcohol.