A 20-year-old Schofield Barracks soldier who is accused of online extortion of a 13-year-old girl in England must remain in custody without the opportunity for release on bond or bail while the government prosecutes him for child pornography and other crimes.
Federal prosecutors charged Christopher Fox on Tuesday with transferring obscene material to a minor, sexual exploitation of children, cyberstalking, and possessing and distributing child pornography.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield on Friday granted the government’s request to detain Fox, finding that the Army military police officer poses a danger to the community and a risk of fleeing to avoid prosecution.
Assistant Federal Defender Alexander Silvert argued for Fox’s release to his parents in Arizona with measures to prevent him from accessing the internet. He also said Fox does not pose a physical danger to the 13-year-old girl because she is out of reach in England.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Morgan Early told Mansfield that there is no way to ensure Fox doesn’t try to make contact with any possible past or future victims because “the internet is everywhere” and is easily accessible through all kinds of readily available devices. She said Fox purchased a new phone after federal officials investigating him for the current case seized his old one in July.
Homeland Security Investigations said in court documents that Fox contacted and began following the girl on Instagram in August last year, when the girl was 12. Fox identified himself by name and described himself as a 19-year-old proud American soldier.
The girl told investigators that she and Fox communicated over Instagram and Snapchat and even had a 30-minute conversation on Facetime. She said when Fox asked for pictures of her in the nude and she refused, Fox threatened to post on social media sensitive details about her that she had shared with him.
She said Fox also sent her nude images and video of himself.
After she sent nude pictures of herself, the girl said, Fox threatened to post them online if she didn’t send more. When she told Fox that she was going to block him from her accounts, the girl told investigators, Fox threatened to share her nude pictures with her friends on social media.
Federal investigators say Fox posted the girl’s nude pictures last November on a new Instagram account he labeled with the girl’s name. They said the girl and her parents went to authorities after the nude pictures started circulating at her school.
Investigators say when they interviewed Fox in July, the soldier admitted exchanging nude images with the girl and, for revenge, blackmailing her with the pictures when she said she wanted nothing more to do with him.
