Piqua man indicted on possession of child pornography charges

Credit: Miami County Jail

Credit: Miami County Jail

TROY - A Miami County grand jury has indicted a Piqua man on multiple felony charges alleging possession of child pornography.

Joshua Schwarz, 29, was arrested on the 21-count indictment Sunday, Feb. 5, according to court records. He pleaded not guilty Monday in county Common Pleas Court. His bail was set at $50,000 cash or surety or 10 percent cash.

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Judge Christopher Gee said if Schwarz posted bail he would be prohibited from leaving the state, could not move from his current address without notifying the court and was prohibited from having unsupervised contact with any minor children.

A grand jury in January issued 10 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and 10 counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material or performance. The charges accuse him of possessing materials depicting children as young as infants in sexually related poses/activities in August 2016. He also faces one felony count of tampering with evidence for allegedly attempting to erase or destroy evidence.

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A report by Piqua police stated that during the investigation they found a trash bag with CDs and VHS tapes, some damaged or destroyed, left near Schwarz’s home for trash collection. NANCY BOWMAN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER