Masury man indicted on child-porn charges

Staff report

WARREN

Bond was set at $15,000 for Stephen M. Sample, 42, of Custer Orangeville Road, Masury, during his arraignment on 20 charges accusing him of possessing and sharing child pornography.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday before Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court and was released from the county jail later after posting bond.

If convicted of all charges, Sample could get up to 160 years in prison.

Gabe Wildman, assistant county prosecutor, said investigators with the Trumbull County Child Pornography Task Force and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation discovered Sample’s activities through a computer-based investigation.

When investigators looked at Sample’s computer at his home, they found close to a million files suggestive of child pornography, Wildman said.

Sample returns to court next Wednesday.