A Morgan County man has been charged with possessing child pornography after authorities with a search warrant found explicit videos of minors on his phone, according to a release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Morgan County Sheriff James Fisher.
Anthonie “Tony” Clifford, 26, of Malta, faces three counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor, all second-degree felonies.
The charges follow a March 30 search warrant executed by the Southeastern Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, part of Yost’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission. During the search, detectives identified child sexual abuse material on Clifford’s phone, according to the release.
The case stems for a tip reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which was then investigated in coordination with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Additional charges will be presented to a grand jury at a later date, the release concluded.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Morgan county man arrested following child exploitation investigation