Prosecutor on child porn case: ‘Single worst video that we’ve ever had’

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Three Warren County men were indicted Monday on child pornography charges, including one featuring the “single worst video that we’ve ever had in this office.”

Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said the investigation of Dalton Moorhead included video of a 12- to 18-month-old girl.

“This is probably the most horrifying child pornography that we’ve ever seen,” Fornshell said of the infant “being bound, beaten, raped and tortured. It’s horrific.”

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Fornshell said a search warrant was executed at Moorhead’s residence and that his laptop computer had downloaded 209 child pornography images and videos known to law enforcement.

Moorhead, 26, of Mason, faces 47 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, a fourth-degree felony. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday.

Verlan Harper, 68, of South Lebanon, was indicted on 27 counts of pandering and two counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material, a fifth-degree felony.

Harper, who is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, was found with 60 downloaded images on an external hard drive and CDs.

Jeff W. Bennett, 56, of South Lebanon, was indicted on six counts of pandering and seven counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material. Bennett — whose mug shot was not available —is scheduled to be arraigned June 7.

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Fornshell said a search warrant was executed and Bennett was found to have child pornography mostly featuring girls younger than 12 on his desktop computer and cell phones.

Fornshell said none of the three defendants had a criminal history involving child pornography. Moorhead was booked into the Warren County Jail in 2012 for a misdemeanor criminal trespass case.

Harper was booked into Warren and Butler county jails on drunk-driving charges in 1998, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Bennett pleaded no contest to a 1995 felonious assault charge.

The prosecutor said the cases are not related, but they were all handled by the same detective, so it was advantageous to have the detective testify to the grand jury at one time.

“They all came to me at the same time,” Fornshell said. “There are personnel in the county that specifically investigate these kind of crimes.”

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