The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
April 6, 2010 Tuesday
Confessed child-porn producer vanishes;
Mount Sterling cops let him go when he said he'd help them
A Madison County man who admitted producing sexually explicit videos of children promised police that he would cooperate with their investigation.
They let him go, and he disappeared.
The FBI has issued a warrant for the arrest of Lowell W. "Dusty" Thompson, 52, of 253 New St. in Mount Sterling. He was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Columbus with producing and distributing child pornography.
Mount Sterling police interviewed Thompson on March 30 after receiving a complaint from the parents of an 8-year-old girl, according to an affidavit the FBI filed in federal court.
The girl told investigators at Nationwide Children's Hospital that Thompson videotaped her and another 8-year-old girl engaging in sex acts. The other girl said Thompson also videotaped himself having sex with her.
"Thompson admitted that the videotaping of children engaged in sex acts and sexual activity began approximately six years ago and that he had produced approximately 10-15 such videos," the affidavit states.
Police searched Thompson's house and found video cameras and dozens of videotapes that are being analyzed by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
He told police that he sent the videos through an Arizona post office box to a man who paid him $100 for each tape. Thompson said he wanted to help investigators arrest the man and promised to return the next day with more information. He didn't return to the police department and hasn't been found, the FBI said.
Thompson is not related to the two girls who were interviewed in the case, Mount Sterling Police Chief Michael J. McCoy said. "I'm sure there are more victims out there that we don't know about."
Thompson served three months in prison in 1994 for gross sexual imposition in Pickaway County, according to state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records.
He is described as white, 5 feet 9 inches and 160 pounds. He is believed to be driving a dark green, 1998 Chevrolet Venture minivan with Ohio license plate number ENZ4931.
Anyone with information about the case can call the FBI cybercrime task force at 614-989-5890 or Mount Sterling police at 740-869-2211.
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