A new federal indictment includes additional allegations against a former elementary school teacher in Greater Cincinnati who was recently detained after the FBI discovered him in a hotel room with a naked female.
Delhi Township resident Mark Altherr, 44, is charged with 16 counts of sexually exploiting children, a felony carrying a possible prison sentence of 15 to 30 years, as well as one count of possessing child pornography.
The maximum sentence for possessing child pornography is 20 years in jail.
Court documents characterize the youngster who was with him in the hotel room last month as “prepubescent,” or generally 11 or 12 years old.
Federal authorities claim that between May 30, 2023, and June 20 of this year, Altherr sexually exploited a kid who was 5 or 6 years old, according to new court documents this week.
According to his indictment, he recorded the youngster participating in and helping someone else engage in sexually explicit behavior at least sixteen occasions.
Next Wednesday, August 28, Altherr is expected to appear before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz for his arraignment on these additional charges.
He will remain in isolation at the Butler County Jail until then.
When he was arrested last month, Altherr was employed by the Oak Hills School District.
Since 2021, he has been a fitness education teacher at Delshire Elementary School.
Only a few days after his arrest, the school board publicly voted to terminate him right away.
On July 25, the FBI’s Cincinnati Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force became aware of Altherr.
According to the affidavit supporting Altherr’s initial criminal complaint and arrest warrant, agents are looking into a website that provides services to the “child pornography community” and “pedophiles” worldwide so they can market and distribute child pornography.
According to the affidavit, Altherr has been a “senior member” since 2021, and that is where they discovered him.
The FBI claims that he has posted more than 262 times on the website, “his age of attraction was five to twelve years old,” and that he uses it to promote and disseminate child pornography.
According to the affidavit, some of the posts had pictures that seemed to show juveniles acting in a sexually explicit manner. It is claimed that the victims range in age from five to twelve.
The very next day, on July 26, the FBI detained Altherr in Columbus after conducting an investigation that revealed he was there with the prepubescent girl and that he had written on the internet about child sex assault.
They were trailed by an agent to a hotel, where the girl and Altherr checked in.
According to the affidavit, the agent got a probable cause warrant to arrest him right away because they thought she was in “imminent danger.”
Agents knocked, making their presence known. In an attempt to see outside the chamber, Altherr opened the door.
He attempted to close the door after noticing the agents, but they grabbed him, led him out of the room, and saved the girl—who was, according to federal court documents, “completely nude.”
Within the room, agents discovered a laptop, a cell phone, two luggage, and a bookbag.
Later that evening, they investigated his house on Woodvalley Lane as well.
As proof, they confiscated a Memorex and a Lexar USB drive.
Following an on-site forensic screening, it was discovered that both digital devices included what seemed to be photos and video.
Three of the files on the devices contained two photos and a child porn movie, the document states.
The victims in the pictures are listed in court documents as a prepubescent female and a 5-year-old girl, while the victim in the video looks to be a girl between the ages of 3 and 4.
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