- 36-year old Christopher McBride who resides in Madisonville has been arrested and charged for a child sexual abuse offence.
- McBride allegedly confessed that he purchased child sexual abuse material from the dark web and currently is in detention without bond at the Hopkins County Detention Center.
- This case is part of series of arrests in similar dark web child sexual abuse and CSAM-related cases in Madisonville this month.
Madisonville Police Department arrested a 36-year-old man on March 24 for being in possession of child abuse material.
That arrest is part of a broader fight that’s been ongoing for a while now against online child sexual predators.
This month alone, the Madisonville police have already taken 3 others into custody for similar offences.
Details of McBride’s Arrest and Offence
Officers of the MDP arrested Christopher McBride and brought him into custody on Tuesday night at a home in Madisonville. The investigation began just one day earlier. Police received a tip on March 23 that McBride had purchased or downloaded illicit material.
Investigators traced a transaction back to February 25. During an interview, McBride reportedly admitted to buying a video showing an adult having sexual relations with a child.
He told officers he obtained the file through the dark web. McBride is now in the Hopkins County Detention Center without bond.
Police Arrests Madisonville Man Who Edited Photos to Create Abuse Material
The McBride case is just one of many such reports in Madisonville recently. A similar case happened on February 27, when an officer started investigating into child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The probe led them to Robert Gehlhausen. Police searched his cellphone and found multiple CSAM images. During an interview, Gehlhausen made a disturbing admission. He told police that he edits photos of children himself.
Reportedly, Gehlhausen said the youngest child he ever edited was around the age of nine. Officers charged him with possession of matter that portrays a sexual performance by a minor under 12.
He’s also being charged with basically pimping out a minor under 16, which is a pretty serious charge. Gehlhausen had his arraignment on Wednesday morning around 8:30 and is right now held over in the Hopkins County Jail.
Texas FBI Tip Leads to Two Arrests in Madisonville
A third investigation took a different turn. On March 10, an FBI agent in Hubbard, Texas, contacted folks at the Madisonville Police Department. The agent told them that they’d caught a man with child pornography. It turned out the suspect had been in touch with 2 people in Madisonville between March and April last year.
Investigators identified the people the suspect had been texting as Britney Monahan and Landon Talley. Both are local folks from Madisonville.
Their chats were about their sexual fantasies involving children. Also, they received lots of CSAM images from the suspect in Texas.
Drugs Found Along With Child Abuse Images
Later on March 12, officers got a warrant to search the suspects’ home, an apartment complex in Dawson Springs, and a truck on the property.
During the search, they found methamphetamine both inside the home and the truck. The detectives also uncovered a stash of drug paraphernalia, along with needles and scales with what they suspect to be meth residue. Further, there was also a bag of something they think could be Suboxone pills inside the house.
Both Talley and Monaha are in custody at the Hopkins County Jail. They were charged with possessing images of sexual acts involving minors under 12 years of age and trafficking meth. In addition, they face charges of first-degree methamphetamine trafficking, second-degree possession of unspecified controlled substances, and drug paraphernalia.
This is just part of the bigger crackdown happening everywhere. The authorities are really going after anyone promoting child sexual abuse using the dark web or cloak-and-dagger online tricks.
The Madisonville arrests tell us that hiding behind a screen won’t actually save anyone from facing the law.
The message is clear, as seen in the recent Texas dark web sting that nabbed three individuals, one already out on bail, law enforcement will continue to pursue these cases relentlessly, no matter how deep offenders try to hide in the dark web’s shadows.
