43
Police seek man on child-porn charges
Photo
William McCants
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
YOUNGSTOWN
Police say a man frequenting the Youngstown area has recordings of himself in sexual situations with children, and now police want to know where he is.
Police have four arrest warrants for William McCants, 42, listing addresses on Garfield Street here and in Akron. Detective Sgt. Charles Guzzy said police have two arrest warrants for two counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor and two counts of illegal use of minors in nudity-oriented material.
According to police, the investigation into McCants began several weeks ago after his estranged wife brought police a computer disc with images of McCants and young, nude girls.
Guzzy said police have conducted searches at homes in Youngstown and at two separate houses in the Akron area. Some of the items have been reviewed by police, and search warrants are being gathered to go through the rest of the material.
Detective Rod Foley said the images on the computer disc reviewed by police are definitely images of young children. Police estimate the children on the video and still photos to be between age 10 and 12.
Guzzy said officers are trying to determine who the young people are in the videos and still photos. The material reviewed thus far contain images of five young girls, but police do not know if the children are from Youngstown, Akron or elsewhere.
“The problem with the video is that whatever program he used we are having a hard time stopping it and cropping out these girls’ faces, but there is no doubt that these girls are underage,” Guzzy added.
Police also are looking at some of the backgrounds in the images to determine where some of the outdoor footage was taken.
A search for McCants has been ongoing by task force agencies here and in the Akron area.
“He really has no set address where he actually stays on a daily basis, but we know he has been staying at different locations in the Akron area,” Guzzy added. “There were notices placed on his registered address by the sheriff’s department in Akron.”
McCants has a registered address in Akron because he is required to register as a sex offender from a previous conviction for child endangering.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of McCants. Anyone with information about his whereabouts should call Crime Stoppers at (330) 746-CLUE.