Two were charged in connection with child pornography.
Frederick, Md (KM) The Frederick Count Grand Jury on Friday indicted seven people, including two connected with child pornography.
Eric Walthall Ritchie, 38, of Charles Town, WV, is charged with five counts each of possession of child pornography, and promotion and distribution of child pornography. “Essentially, an undercover deputy received child pornography videos from the defendant. He was engaging in file sharing of child pornography, which is a violation of that statute. You don’t have to sell it in order to be guilty of distribution of child pornography,” says State’s Attorney Charlie Smith. “So they {the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office} executed a search warrant, and they found a lot of videos, a lot more evidence that he was trading this disgusting stuff.”
Also indicted on child pornography offenses was Steven Colin Riley, 18, of Myersville. He is charged with solicitation of child pornography and threat to send and deliver this material. “The deputies were contacted regarding a hacked Snapchat account, and the threats that the victim was receiving,” Smith says. “They investigated it . It revealed that the 18-year-old defendant hacked into a 16-year-old girl’s Snapchat account and trying to extort her for these sexual photos.”
Other indictments include:
*Joseph Franklin Bitz, 69, of Frederick, Md. He’s charged with 1st-degree attempted arson, arson threat and two counts of reckless endangerment for an incident which occurred on Nov. 12th, 2018.
* Joshua Patrick Plunkett, 19, of Brunswick, Md. He’s charged with 1st-degree burglary, theft between $100 and $1500, theft of a credit card and using another person’s credit card for an incident which occurred on October 29th, 2018.
*Wayne Augustus Chase, 23, of Frederick, Md. He’s charged with distribution of crack cocaine on school property, possession with intent to distribute crack on school property, distribution of crack cocaine, possession with intent to distribute and possession of crack cocaine.; possession with intent to distribute marijuana on school property, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine on school property, two counts possession of ten grams or more of marijuana for incidents which occurred on October, 9th and October 24th, 2018.
* Charles Abernathy Room, 33, of Frederick, Md. He’s charged with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute heroin-fentanyl mix, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl on school property, possession of fentanyl, possession of heroin, possession of drug administration equipment, possession of a hypodermic syringe used for heroin and possession of paraphernalia (gel caps with fentanyl) for an incident which took place on Nov. 6th, 2018.
* Ephraim Kaniaru Njeru, 38, who has no fixed address. He’s charged with second-degree rape, and 3rd and 4th-degree sex offenses for an incident which occurred on July 20th, 2018.
The indictments move these cases to the Circuit Court where trial dates will be scheduled.
By Kevin McManus