COLUMBUS – Former 10 tv meteorologist has been indicted on four counts of pandering sexual oriented material involving a minor.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced Davis was indicted on various felony degrees of pandering, the indictment alleges that the former meteorologist for 10 tv downloaded the images/videos of children engaging in sexual activities, and sent them to his personal emails.
Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said, “Over a period of several years, Davis downloaded a significant amount of images depicting nude children and child pornography on several devices and was emailing the images and child pornography to himself. There is no evidence he produced the images or sent them to anyone else.” Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced today that the Franklin County Grand Jury has indicted Michael G. Davis, age 60, for two counts of Pandering Sexually-Oriented Matter Involving a Minor (F-2), one count of Pandering Sexually-Oriented Matter Involving a Minor (F-2), and one count of Pandering Sexually-Oriented Matter Involving a Minor (F-4), for a total of four counts. The four most egregious images were selected for indictment. “Between October 2018 and September 2019, the indictment alleges that Davis downloaded and emailed to himself videos and images depicting young children engaging in sexual activity,” O’Brien stated.
The indictment did not refer to Davis as creating or physically abuse of children, but only downloading other abusers photos and video.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a Yahoo! Inc. account associated with Davis’ email address had downloaded a significant amount of suspected child pornography. Search warrants were executed at both Davis’ home and at the WBNS station, and electronic devices were seized at both locations. O’Brien commended the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force for their thorough investigation of this case. Arraignment for Davis is set for Monday, October 21st, 2019 at 1:30 pm in courtroom 2A at 345 S. High Street in downtown Columbus.
Sheriff Baldwin said that ICAC (Ohio internet crimes against children) sent a tip two weeks ago on Davis to Franklin County that Davis had “significant” number of child pornography in his possession. Those images or possible video was both sent and received by Davis.
“This establishes a pattern of behavior,” said Sheriff.
The tip evidence was confirmed and more evidence was gathered, based on that information ICAC performed a search warrant on Davis home and office at 10tv. He has been charged with pandering sexual material a second degree felony. Davis was arrested at his home.
Sheriff Baldwin then gave respect to ICAC and the difficult task to investigate these kinds of crimes.
“It takes a special person to do that kind of work.”
Police would not comment on age only that they were juvenile children.
“This is not images/video of kids in a bath tub that maybe a mom would take, these are images of children being compromised in sexual acts or sexual nature. People are shocked when this happens to someone they know, but these types of cases span all types of people we have arrested, clergy, police officer, and folks in the media. Its a reminder on how dangerous the internet is, and how we need to protect our children.”
