2 Warren men accused of downloading child porn

Staff report

WARREN

Police arrested two men Monday morning at separate apartments in Northbury Colony on Robert Lane Northeast, charging both with two counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor.

Robert E. Sillitoe Jr., 57, and Timothy W. Harris, 26, were arraigned Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court on the felony offenses.

Both are in the Trumbull County jail in lieu of $150,000 bond. If convicted, each could get more than 10 years in prison.

Sillitoe was a Humility of Mary Health Partners employee who worked as a business manager for a physician practice in Trumbull County, said HMHP spokeswoman Tina Creighton. Sillitoe, who was placed on indefinite suspension from his job this week, had no contact with adult or child patients in his administrative role with HMHP, Creighton said.

Before coming to HMHP in 2011, he had a similar job with the Toledo Hospital Family Medicine Residency in Toledo. He has master’s and bachelor’s degrees in business.

The charges allege both men were detected downloading images off of the Internet depicting child pornography and sharing the images with someone else.

The cases are unrelated despite the apartments being close together and the search warrants being served at the same time, police said.

Warren Police Sgt. Geoff Fusco said the investigation was conducted by the Warren Police Department in conjunction with the Trumbull County Internet Crimes Against Children unit, FBI and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

It is the first Warren arrest stemming from an investigation conducted by the Crimes Against Children unit since it was formed about six months ago. The unit made two earlier arrests elsewhere in the county.

The unit initiates investigations by using the Internet to find individuals engaged in this type of offense, then obtains a search warrant to remove computers or other devices for further investigation, Fusco said. Those things happened in both of Monday’s arrests, Fusco said.