ABINGDON, Md. — It has been billed as the world's largest marketplace, but according to police, when 51-year-old Thomas Dewey bought and sold child porn on Ebay, the company reported it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who then alerted law enforcers in Harford County.
Albert Peisinger, Jr. is the county's new state's attorney.
"He came in as a tip and it was investigated by the trooper and the association and at that time, it led to the search and seizure warrant and the recovery of the material off of his computers," said Peisinger.
A raid on the suspect’s house on Hookers Mill Road in Abingdon turned up what is described as a massive amount of videos and pictures of children being sexually abused.
According to charging documents, one such video depicted an adult male engaged in sex acts with a seven-year-old girl.
A program discovered on Dewey's computer revealed he was sharing child porn as recently as the same day of his arrest.
While there is no evidence at this point that Dewey assaulted any children, Peisinger says child porn is not a victimless crime.
"These are children that are being exploited by, not just him, other individuals for greed," said Peisinger, "It's actually a predatorial crime on children, which in my experience, is the most inexcusable. It's directed at children and he's a predator of our children either in Harford County or this country depending upon the material that was on his computer."
State troopers and sheriff's deputies with the Harford County Child Advocacy Center conducted the investigation, and if he's convicted on a child porn distribution count, Dewey could face up to 10 years behind bars.
Anyone with additional information relating to Dewey or this investigation is encouraged to contact the Child Advocacy Center at 410-638-3294.
