A 31-year-old registered sex offender was charged Monday with possession of child pornography and sending pornography to a girl.
Cole Perry Churchill was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography with a prior conviction and single counts each of distributing pornography to a minor with the intent to engage in sex and contacting a minor with the intent to commit sex, all felonies.
Churchill was convicted Feb. 1, 2023, in San Diego County of felony lewd acts with a child 14 to 15 years old. He was placed on three years of probation in May of 2023.
According to a probation violation petition filed in Orange County in January, Churchill was caught with several bottles of wine in his kitchen and with a phone that had web access and contained pornography and child pornography.
“Some of the images discovered depicted videos of females that appeared to be of pre-pubescent age in sexual poses and wearing very little to no clothing,” according to the petition. “Also discovered were dozens of images of pre-pubescent females in cheerleading outfits. … Also discovered on his cell phone were several conversations with several females.”
In one of the conversations he asked one female if she wanted to “video call while I shower,” according to the petition.
The probation official who wrote the report alerted Orange County sheriff’s investigators to scrutinize the cell phone.
The dates of the alleged crimes in the complaint were Jan. 23, the date the probation officer did a compliance check on him, and Thursday, which was when the defendant was arrested.
Churchill pleaded guilty April 10 to violating probation and was sentenced to a year in prison, but he had credit for a year in jail and was released.
Churchill was scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 15 in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.