Centerville man waives hearing on child pornography charges
A Centerville man accused of possessing child pornography will see his case head to the Court of Common Pleas after he waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday.
Jonathan Andrew Hoover, 20, of 214 Malden Road, faces 16 felony charges of possession of child pornography and an additional felony charge of criminal use of a communication facility.
Hoover appeared before District Judge Joshua Kanalis Wednesday morning with his attorney, Christopher Blackwell, for his scheduled preliminary hearing.
Hoover waived his right to a hearing, and a formal arraignment is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. May 30.
Hoover was charged after agents with the state attorney general’s office executed a search warrant at his residence April 4 and seized his MacBook.
The attorney general’s office alleges the computer contained 16 picture and video files of child pornography.
Their investigation began after Tumblr reported that two accounts had uploaded images of child pornography, which showed girls as young as 4 to 6.
The attorney general’s office claims in the complaint that the account was traced to Hoover’s home.
According to the complaint, Hoover willingly spoke with agents and allegedly admitted to looking at and downloading child pornography.
The complaint states he suggested he had done so with the intention of being arrested because he was “depressed and overwhelmed in life” and wanted to “disappear.”
Hoover is free on $50,000 bond.